AFS-15-112-E

September 25, 2015

 Exemption No. 10871B

 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2013-0221

Ms. Caitlin M. Randles

Supervisor, Flight Test Engineering

The Boeing Company

P.O. Box 3707

Seattle, WA 98124

Dear Ms. Randles:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted, in part, your petition to amend Exemption 

No. 10871, as amended. It explains the basis for our decision, describes its effect, and lists the 

revised conditions and limitations.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated October 2, 2014, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 

on behalf of The Boeing Company (Boeing) for an amendment to Exemption No. 10871, as 

amended. That exemption from §§ 61.75(d)(2) and 61.117 of Title 14, Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) allows certain foreign pilots exercising private pilot privileges to act as a 

flight crewmember on Boeing aircraft. Specifically, the exemption allows these pilots to fly as 

second-in-command (SIC) while conducting evaluation and demonstration flights within the 

United States for potential buyers of those aircraft or on behalf of their respective civil 

aviation authority (CAA). 

A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on May 18, 2015, 

(80 FR 28341). No comments were received.

 

In its letter, Boeing requested several amendments to Exemption No. 10871A:

1) Exemption No. 10871A allowed sales demonstration and evaluation flights only. 

Boeing requests the FAA remove the adjective “sales”, so that the text reads 

“demonstration and evaluation flights”. This would allow additional relief, including 
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operations by foreign pilots from aviation-oriented magazines and foreign pilot 

organizations. In its petition, Boeing indicates it would benefit from those entities’ 

assessment of its products. Those assessments, according to Boeing, are an integral 

part of Boeing’s business model and will lead to increased sales, and will contribute to 

maintaining the United States’ foreign trade balance. 

The FAA finds that this amendment would unacceptably broaden the relief granted in 

Exemption No. 10871, because the exemption could be used for a much wider scope 

of demonstration and evaluation activities and would include any person associated 

with a foreign pilot organization or aviation publication. As these individuals can 

evaluate the aircraft to a significant degree without an exemption by using a flight 

simulator, we do not envision a burden to Boeing from excluding them from this 

exemption. We find that adding this relief would unnecessarily affect risk and the 

relief would no longer meet an equivalent level of safety.

2) Condition/Limitation No. 8 of Exemption No. 10871A requires that the foreign pilot 

acting as SIC be an “authorized representative of a legitimate potential purchaser of 

the type aircraft being flown.” Boeing requests that the FAA amend this text because 

some of the foreign pilots represent entities that are already Boeing customers. The 

FAA does not envision any safety or public interest impact from this change, and has 

amended the text in Condition/Limitation No. 10 (separated from former 

Condition/Limitation No. 8) to accommodate Boeing’s request.

3) Condition/Limitation No. 10 of Exemption No. 10871A identifies the supernumeraries 

allowed aboard during flights operated under the exemption. In its petition, Boeing 

asks for relief for additional personnel, including:

a) Engineers and other customer representatives, including corporate executives, 

managers, sales agents, operational personnel, and unnamed others;

b) Any persons and property that may support demonstration flights who 

represent qualified aviation press or foreign pilot organizations, including 

photographers and any other technical experts; and,

c) Any Boeing personnel required to support demonstration flights, including 

interpreters and any persons associated with sales, public relations, and 

photography.

The FAA has considered this request and finds that the amendment requested by 

Boeing does not meet an equivalent level of safety. 

The conditions and limitations of Boeing’s first grant of exemption for this relief 

(Exemption No. 10061, issued on 5/7/2010), did not allow for any supernumeraries: 

“No person or property may be on board the aircraft, other than necessary for conduct 

of the flight.” After considering a petition from Boeing to amend this requirement, the 

FAA on September 30, 2013 amended Boeing’s subsequent exemption (Exemption 
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No. 10871), allowing limited supernumeraries. The current exemption (10871A) has 

that same relief, and allows Boeing and CAA flight test directors and as many Boeing 

and CAA flight test engineers as needed to answer questions related to airplane and 

systems operation.

The FAA finds that Boeing can already transport the additional personnel requested in

its October 2, 2014 letter; these persons could be carried aboard any Boeing aircraft for 

any demonstration or evaluation flight with any properly certificated (non-exempted) 

flight crew. The FAA finds that since Boeing could offer flights for these additional 

individuals outside of this exemption, the rationale for including those individuals on 

flights using the exempted flightcrew does not meet the equivalent level of safety 

position cited by the FAA in its original grant of this relief. 

In its petition, Boeing asserts that its supernumeraries are already limited, in 

accordance with the requirements of 14 CFR part 21, for operations using a special 

airworthiness certificate in the experimental category. The limitations for 

supernumeraries in the exemption are related to the nonstandard, unique configuration 

of the flight crew, not to the airworthiness certification of the aircraft. The expanded 

relief requested by Boeing is inadequately supported and is not consistent with our 

original evaluation of equivalent level of safety and public interest in Exemption 

Nos. 10061 and 10871. Accordingly, the FAA has not amended Condition and 

Limitation No. 3 (formerly Condition/Limitation No. 10). 

4) The petition includes numerous suggestions for editorial and typographical changes to 

the conditions and limitations, and proposes that the FAA use Boeing’s rewritten 

conditions and limitations provided in a separate document. The FAA has reviewed its 

conditions and limitations for editorial updates and has made some minor format 

changes, including some of the changes Boeing recommends. 

In reviewing the conditions and limitations, the FAA amended Condition/Limitation 

No. 1, allowing exempted operations in any aircraft identified on Boeing’s Production 

Limitation Record. This change will prevent Boeing from having to petition for 

amendments to this exemption when it develops new models. The FAA also amended 

former Condition/Limitation No. 5(c) (now 7(c)) to correctly cite the purposes for a 

special airworthiness certificate in the experimental category for market survey. The 

previous text (“for the purpose of demonstration and flight evaluations conducted by a 

foreign civil aviation authority”) is not one of the identified purposes allowed under a 

special airworthiness certificate in the experimental category. 

In addition to the above, the FAA has made renumbering changes to the condition and 

limitations. The allowed supernumeraries have been moved from Condition/Limitation 

No. 10 to No. 3. New Condition/Limitation No. 10 identifies the permitted 

organizations the person acting as SIC may represent (separated from former 

Condition/Limitation No. 8). Consequently, former Condition/Limitation Nos. 3, 4, 5, 
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6, 7, and 8 have shifted to Condition/Limitation Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Former 

Condition/Limitation No. 9 has shifted to Condition/Limitation No. 11, and former 

Condition/Limitation No. 11 has shifted to Condition/Limitation No. 12.

Our Decision

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 10871, 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. §§ 106(f), 40113 and 44701, which the FAA 

Administrator has delegated to me, I hereby grant, in part, the petition of The Boeing 

Company for an exemption from 14 CFR §§ 61.75(d)(2) and 61.117, subject to the following 

conditions and limitations.

Conditions and Limitations

1. This exemption is issued for the purpose of allowing certain flights using any Boeing 

model aircraft identified on Boeing’s FAA-issued Production Limitation Record. The 

flights are limited to those required for demonstration and evaluation:

a) by any legitimate Boeing aircraft customer or potential customer, or;

b) by request of any foreign civil aviation authority (CAA).

2. The privileges of this exemption are intended to enable a foreign pilot who holds a 

U.S. private pilot certificate with airplane multi-engine class rating and an instrument 

airplane rating (subject to the requirements of Condition/Limitation No. 6) to act as 

SIC in the operations described in Condition/Limitation No. 1.

3. Boeing is authorized to conduct flights under this exemption only with pilots and 

property identified in these conditions and limitations, and the following noncrewmembers:

a) any Boeing or foreign Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Flight Test Directors;

b) any Boeing or foreign CAA Flight Test Engineers; and, 

c) any Boeing or foreign CAA engineers as necessary for evaluation of systems 

operation.

4. The privileges of this exemption are not valid unless Boeing has a letter issued by the 

FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), 1601 Lind Ave., SW, Renton, 

Washington 98057, specifically indicating approval of each of the foreign pilots 

operating Boeing aircraft under the privileges of this exemption.

5. Each foreign pilot identified in the documentation required under 

Condition/Limitation No. 4 must hold at least an FAA private pilot certificate with 

instrument and multi-engine ratings. Any person authorized by the FAA Administrator 

to issue a private pilot certificate on the basis of a foreign pilot license under § 61.75 

may place an instrument rating on the certificate for that applicant (upon request of the 

applicant) without the applicant having passed the knowledge test required by 
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§ 61.75(d)(2). The person issuing the § 61.75 private pilot certificate must indicate on 

that certificate the following limitation:

Instrument rating privileges are only valid for use under the privileges of 

Exemption No. 10871.

6. The privileges of this exemption may not be used for operations that involve:

a) delivery of an aircraft;

b) maintenance or manufacturing flight testing;

c) flights operated under a special airworthiness certificate in the experimental 

category other than for the purpose of market survey; or,

d) flights operated for the purpose of crew training.

7. Boeing must remain in full operational control of any aircraft operated using the 

privileges of this exemption.

8. The pilot-in-command (PIC) of any flights operated using the privileges of this 

exemption must:

a) hold a valid U.S. commercial pilot certificate or airline transport pilot 

certificate with the appropriate type rating;

b) hold a valid U.S. first- or second-class medical certificate;

c) be directly employed by Boeing; and,

d) must act as the PIC at all times during the flight.

9. The person acting as SIC of any flights operated using the privileges of this exemption 

must:

a) hold a valid pilot certificate issued by an International Civil Aviation 

Organization (ICAO)-member state containing commercial pilot certification 

(or equivalent) with instrument and multi-engine ratings, or airline transport 

pilot certification (or equivalent) with a multi-engine rating. The pilot 

certificate must be in the English language, or must be accompanied by 

documentation in the English language translating certification, privileges, and 

validity of those certificates.

b) hold any valid medical certificate issued under 14 CFR part 67, or a medical 

certificate issued by the ICAO-member state that issued the person’s foreign

pilot certificate identified in Condition/Limitation No. 9(a).

10. The person acting as SIC of any flight operated using the privileges of this exemption 

must be an authorized representative of:

a) any legitimate customer or potential customer for the model aircraft being 

flown, or;

b) any CAA seeking demonstration and evaluation of the model aircraft being 

flown.
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11. Any flight operated using the privileges of this exemption must have an additional 

person aboard (other than the persons identified in Condition/Limitation Nos. 2 and 8) 

who:

a) is employed by Boeing;

b) is not acting as PIC of the aircraft;

c) holds the appropriate U.S. airman and medical certificates to act as SIC of the 

aircraft being flown; and,

d) Boeing has found to be qualified to act as SIC of the aircraft being flown.

12. This exemption applies to flights conducted within domestic United States airspace. 

Boeing may exercise this relief for operations within the territory and airspace of a 

foreign country only with the specific permission of the foreign CAA. 

The Effect of Our Decision

The FAA has extended the termination date of Exemption No. 10871, as amended, to 

September 30, 2017, unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

Sincerely,

/s/

John Barbagallo

Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service