AFS-11-459-E 

October 5, 2011 

 Exemption No. 8684C 

 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2006-23640 

Mr. Lyle Hogg 

Vice President, Flight Operations 

US Airways, Inc. 

4000 East Sky Harbor Boulevard 

Phoenix, AZ 85034 

Dear Mr. Hogg: 

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your petition to extend Exemption 

No. 8684, as amended. It explains the basis for our decision and describes its effect. 

The Basis for Our Decision 

By letter dated September 13, 2011, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) on behalf of US Airways, Inc. (US Airways), for an extension of Exemption No. 8684, 

as amended. That exemption from § 121.619 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations 

(14 CFR) allows US Airways, its certified dispatchers, and its pilots in command (PIC) to 

dispatch flights to domestic airports at which, for at least 1 hour before and 1 hour after the 

estimated time of arrival at the destination airport, the appropriate weather reports or 

forecasts, or any combination of them, indicate the ceiling may be reduced from at least 

2,000 feet to 1,000 feet above the airport elevation, and visibility may be reduced from at 

least 3 statute miles to 2 statute miles. 

In your petition, you indicate that there has been no change in the conditions and reasons 

relative to public interest and safety that were the basis for granting the original exemption. 

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition 

in the Federal Register because the requested extension of the exemption would not set a 

precedent, and any delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to US Airways. 
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Our Decision 

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 8684, as 

amended, remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public interest. 

Therefore, under the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. 40113 and 44701, which the FAA 

Administrator has delegated to me, I grant your petition, subject to the conditions and 

limitations below. 

Conditions and Limitations 

1. Before conducting operations under this exemption, US Airways must obtain amended 

operations specifications (OpSpec) that provide for operations under this exemption. 

2. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those destination airports in the 

48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia. 

3. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those airports at which an 

operable category (CAT) II or CAT III instrument landing system (ILS) is available 

for use. 

4. Before conducting operations under this exemption, US Airways must demonstrate to 

its assigned FAA principal operations inspector’s (POI) satisfaction that: 

a. Each US Airways dispatcher has a system available to display the location of 

each flight within 3 minutes of real time; 

b. Each US Airways dispatch facility has a system that provides its dispatchers 

with overlays of weather returns updated at least once every 5 minutes; 

c. Each US Airways dispatch facility has a system that provides its dispatchers 

with a display of the specific aircraft routing as assigned by air traffic control 

(ATC) and actual filed flight plan routing; 

d. Each US Airways dispatcher has a system available to display locations of 

other airborne aircraft, including aircraft of other operators; 

e. Each US Airways dispatch facility has a system available that provides its 

dispatchers with a display of planned and actual fuel at regular intervals along 

the route and the difference between planned and actual fuel; 

f. Each US Airways dispatch facility has a system available that automatically 

alerts its dispatchers to special weather updates, changes in weather reports, 

forecasts, and/or other significant weather-related reports, and ensures that 

these can be relayed to flightcrews in an expeditious manner; 

g. Each US Airways dispatcher is provided the capability to access the services 

of a qualified meteorologist approved by the POI whenever the dispatcher 

believes that consultation is necessary to ensure safety of operations under this 
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exemption. The presence of an approved Enhanced Weather Information 

System satisfies this requirement; 

h. Each US Airways dispatcher must have the capability to expeditiously recompute projected arrival fuel from a “point aloft” to the intended destination 

in the event conditions occur that negatively impact the flight; and 

i. The dispatch release will contain a statement for each flight dispatched under 

this exemption such as “ALTERNATE WEATHER EXEMPTION APPLIED. 

REFERENCE (APPROPRIATE DOCUMENT SUCH AS A FLIGHT 

OPERATIONS MANUAL (FOM), GENERAL OPERATIONS MANUAL 

(GOM), etc).” The certificate holder may choose to use other wording, if 

desired, but the meaning must be clear. 

5. US Airways must maintain at least CAT II approach authorization, OpSpec C059, for 

those fleets to which this exemption applies and each aircraft must have fully 

operating equipment needed for CAT II ILS approaches for that aircraft to operate 

under this exemption. 

6. At the time of dispatch, the flightcrew must be qualified to conduct at least a CAT II 

approach. PICs with less than the requisite minimum hours specified in 

 14 CFR § 121.652 cannot be used in operations under this exemption unless the 

 operator also holds Exemption No. 5549, the PIC has been trained in accordance with 

 the requirements of that exemption, and all of the conditions specified by Exemption 

 No. 5549 are met. 

7. Operations are not permitted under this exemption at any airport at which 

thunderstorms are reported or forecast from 1 hour before through 1 hour after the 

estimated arrival time if such reports or forecasts are in either or both the main body 

or the remarks section of the weather report or the weather forecast. Furthermore, 

US Airways cannot use Exemption No. 3585P issued to Air Transport Association of 

America, Inc., members (including US Airways), or any subsequent exemption 

granting similar relief regarding any kind of forecast of thunderstorms at the 

destination airport in conjunction with any operation conducted under this exemption. 

8. Each certificated US Airways dispatcher and PIC, who conducts operations under this 

exemption, must be provided with a copy of pertinent parts of this exemption. 

Operations under this exemption are permitted by US Airways dispatchers and 

US Airways PICs but are not required. 

9. Use of this exemption in operations to destinations outside the contiguous 

United States is prohibited. US Airways is authorized to use this exemption in 

operations to airports within the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia 

from airports outside those boundaries provided US Airways also holds OpSpec A012 

and operations are conducted in accordance with the appropriate provisions of the 

OpSpec as they pertain to operations from airports listed in Table I thereof. 
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10. US Airways must provide the Administrator, by the 15th day of each month, reports 

that include the information listed below, during the preceding calendar month. The 

POI is authorized to delete this reporting requirement once US Airways has conducted 

operations under this exemption satisfactorily for at least 24 continuous calendar 

months and sufficient data to thoroughly evaluate operational performance have been 

obtained. Reports must contain the following information: 

a. The total number of flights operated by US Airways under domestic rules to 

destinations within the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia; 

b. The total number of flights separated under this exemption, including those 

flights conducted under the appropriate provisions and limitations of 

OpSpec A012. For each flight operated, the dates, airport pairs, flight 

numbers, aircraft make/model/size, trended or graphical summary of flight 

planned fuel vs. actual arrival fuel, and contingency fuel must be listed. 

Report format shall be in chronological order by fleet type; 

c. The total number of flights that divert to an alternate airport; 

d. The total number of flights that divert to an alternate airport that are operated 

under this exemption and the reason for each diversion, such as weather 

conditions, mechanical problems, fuel quantity, passenger problems, air traffic, 

crewmember, or any other reason. US Airways must fully document each 

diversion; and 

e. The total number of US Airways flights, operated under this exemption, that 

declare an emergency and the reason for such declaration, or during which 

flight a low fuel state occurs that results in actions being taken by ATC and/or 

dispatch to provide priority handling, even if no emergency is declared. 

The Effect of Our Decision 

Our decision extends the termination date of Exemption No. 8684, as amended, to 

January 31, 2014, unless sooner superseded or rescinded. 

Sincerely, 

/s/ 

Raymond Towles 

Acting Director, Flight Standards 

 Service 
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