8111 Lemmon Ave, Hangar 4 Dallas, TX 75209

214. 904

- 9911 www.7bar.com U.S. Department of Transportation Docket Operations West Building Ground Floor Room W12

- 140 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE. Washington, DC 20590

December 23, 2015

RE: Petition for Exemption

Summary of Petition for Publication

SevenBar Aviation seeks an exemption from Section 135.611(b) of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to the extent necessary to allow SevenBar Aviation to resume performing instrument flight rules (IFR) departure s and to perform IFR instrument approach procedures (IAP)

, at airports and or heliports that do not have an approved weather reporting source
, without airborne radar or lightning strike detection equipment installed in its helicopters with a passenger seat ing configuration of 9 seats or less (excluding any pilot seat), with limitations consistent with the company’s past operating practices.

Description of Requested Relief

This is a petition to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pursuant to 14 CFR Sec tion 11.61 for an exemption from 14 CFR Section 135.611(b), as that section has been recently interpreted by the FAA’s Flight Standards Service in internal guidance to Principal Operations Inspectors. SevenBar Aviation is seeking immediate relief to the e xtent necessary to allow SevenBar Aviation to resume performing instrument flight rules (IFR) departures and approach procedures (IAP) at airports and or heliports that do not have an approved weather reporting source w ithout airborne radar or lightning st rike detection equipment installed in its helicopters with a passenger seating configuration of 9 seats or less (excluding any pilot seat). Consistent with SevenBar Aviation O perations S pecifications and its operational practice for several years before th at interpretation, the requested exemption, if granted, will be limited as
follows:

A. The exemption would apply to operations of SevenBar Aviation helicopters with a passenger seating configuration of 9 seats or less (excluding any pilot seat), listed in our Operations Specifications when

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1. Current weather reports or forecasts indicate that there is no reasonable possibility of
thunderstorms or other severe weather expected to exist at the destination, alternate or along the route to be flown for the period of time planned for the flight ; and

-2. Additional preflight planning is triggered by the SevenBar Aviation Preflight Risk Assessment Program that must be completed before the first leg of each Helicopter Air Ambulance Operation ( HAA O)

, conducted under Section 135.611

.

B. For a flight to be conducted under Section 135.611

, the additional weather briefing, flight monitoring and related training actions described below must be taken . The se actions are described in the
SevenBar Aviation General Operations Manual

.

1. Additional Weather Briefing Requirements for Flights Under Section 135.611

• The pilot will use information obtained from the National Weather Service to determine that there is no reasonable possibility of thunderstorms or other severe weather conditions expected to exist at the destination, alternate or along the route to be flown for the period of time planned for the flight ;

• The following a viation weather products must be reviewed in making that determination; AIRMET, SIGMET, CONVECTIVE SIGMET, METAR, REGIONAL NEXRAD, NOTAM, PIREP, and TAF ; and

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• No IFR operation under Section 135.611 will be released if c urrent weather reports or forecasts
indicate the potential for thunderstorms or other severe weather to exist at the destination, alternate or along the route to be flown for the period of time planned for the flight. If such potential exists, t he pilot must refuse the flight.

2. Flight m onitoring

Once the flight becomes active
, the Communication Center uses specialized software that automatically monitors the flight plan, current position and destination of all active flights. The flight following software along with sources from the n ational weather service provide the communication specialist with the necessary information to monitor weather along the pilot’s route of flight. The communications center continuously monitor s all flights for thunderstorms and severe weather and provides that information to the pilot by c ontact ing the pilot via radio or satellite phone.

If severe weather is to appear along a flight path during an operation under 135.611, the communication specialist will immediately advise the pilot that the flight must be aborted and assist the pilot with information regarding a diversion or return to base.

3. Training for our pilots and operations control specialists will be completed on an annual basis and
includes:

a. IFR Flight Planning (4.0 hours)

b. Use and interpretation of NWS weather charts (2.0 hours)c. Interpretation of live radar feeds (2.0 hours)

d. SIGMETS and AIRMETS (2.0 hours)

e. METARS and TAFS’s (2.0 hours)

f. Interpretation and appropriate use of available cockpit weather displays (2.0 hours)

g. The applicability and use of this exemption (1.0 hours)

Granting the Requested Exemption would Enhance Safety and is in the Public Interest

SevenBar Aviation maintains that it is in the public interest to utilize the IFR infrastructure to the fullest extent possible . This benefit is two fold, as the IFR infrastructure enhances safety and increases the opportunity for additional access to critical care patient flights. Using the IFR system helps mitigate the potential for controlled flight into terrain ( CFIT ) accidents caused by tryin g to maintain VFR when in marginal weather conditions. The public interest also will be served by increasing the opportunity for additional access to critical care patient flights.

SevenBar Aviation believes that, by granting this petition, the FAA will p ermit an alternate means of compliance that is an equivalent level of safety as provided by Section 135.611(b)

. The underly ing purpose of Section 135.611 is to facilitate IFR operations by helicopter air ambulance operators and result in more aircraft oper ating in a positively controlled environment, thereby increasing safety. T he recent interpretation of the rule instead has the unintended consequence of encouraging HAA operators to fly in marginal weather conditions under VFR because the interpretation re quires Airborne Weather Radar or Lightning Detection Equipment. Flight under IFR mitigates the potential for controlled flight into terrain ( CFIT ) accidents caused by pilots trying to remain VFR when the weather is marginal. Throughout the rule making pr ocess the FAA has acknowledged that CFIT accidents in marginal VFR weather has frequently been a significant factor in fatal HAA accidents.

SevenBar Aviation believes that the true mitigation of the risk of operations in areas of severe weather
lies in eff ective and consistent preflight planning and training for its pilots along with operational control oversight by the certificate holder. SevenBar Aviation further believes that the proposed exemption is in keeping with the safety purpose of the rule by pe rmitting HAA operators the ability to operate in
accordance with IFR more frequently . Granting the proposed exemption in regard to Section 135.611(b), as interpreted, would not promote flights into severe weather, because SevenBar Aviation does not
conduct IFR operations in severe weather conditions

Prior to April 22, 2015 Helicopter Air Ambulance Operators safely conducted IFR approaches into and out of airports and heliports using FAA approved non

- part 97 IAP’s at locations that do not have weather report ing. This type of procedure w as approved under an authorization in Operations Specifications A021 and did not require severe weather detection equipment. During the rewrite of part 135, the authorization in A021 was correctly removed from the Operations Specifications and placed inwhat became Section 135.611 in the final HAA rule. In Section 135.611 (b) there is a requirement for “severe weather detection equipment” with no specific definition of what that term means.

It is SevenBar’s intention to inst all this equipment on all IFR aircraft on the certificate, however it is necessary to obtain this exemption as a bridge to allow newly acquired aircraft to be operated safely in the IFR infrastructure during the time leading up to installation of Airborne Weather radar. If this exemption is not granted it will restrict the number of HAA flights available to the public.

S ummary.

In summary, immediate granting of the requested relief will enhance aviation safety and be in the best
interest of the public . Eac h day that passes without relief from the recent interpretation of Section 135.611(b) prevents safe IFR operations and unnecessarily restricts public access to air medical transportation. We appreciate your positive and expeditious consideration of our request for this relief.

Respectfully submitted,

Steve Moody Director of Operations