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Exemption Request FAR 91.319(c)

Submitted by the Commemorative Air Force

For Participants In

Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Capitol Flyover

Aircraft: 4 P-38s 

Request: Exemption from FAR 91.319(c) and associated conditions in the aircraft 

operating limitations

1. Reason for Exemption:

The Commemorative Air Force is submitting this request for various operators 

participating in the flyover along with our CAF aircraft. Although the coordination 

for sourcing these aircraft is still in progress, we are planning to include about 4 

P-38s and the line-up for the entire parade is shown in paragraph 2 below. We are 

requesting this exemption to provide operational relief from the restrictions of 

operating experimental aircraft over Densely Populated Areas during the flyover of

the National Mall celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WW II, on 8 May, 

2015. The concept of the flyover was briefed to Administrator Huerta by 

Congressman Graves and summarized in the letter to the Administrator (attachment 

1). The letter clearly establishes the event as in the Public Interest. 

The basis of showing there is no adverse effect on public safety is the overflight of 

populated areas by any of these aircraft will only be one minute to one minute and 

30 seconds and the route is always within 30 seconds of the river route if an aircraft 

has to abort and depart the area. A partner in the minimum exposure mitigation is 

catastrophic (fall out of the sky) failures without warning are extremely rare. The 

chance of such a failure happening during a 60-90 second segment of normal flight 

is so unlikely; it can be assumed it will not occur.

2. Overview of VE Day Flyover:

WHEN: May 8, 2015 
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•WHY: Honor and pay tribute to our nation’s greatest generation on the 70th 

anniversary of VE Day 

•WHERE: Washington, DC and the World War II Memorial through the established 

“Honor Flight” model 

•HOW: Fly historic WWII planes over National Mall 

“THE PLAN” 

•Capitol Mall Flyover 

•Trainers followed by 13 Historically Sequenced Warbird formations and 

concluding with a missing man formation to “taps” 

•Formations in 90-second intervals 

•70+ planes representing the major battles of World War II, from Pearl Harbor to 

the final air offensive to defeat Japan 

HISTORICAL AERIAL REVIEW FLOW 

•Trainer Formation “Pass in Review” (Boeing Stearmans, Piper L-Birds, North 

America T-6s, Cessna/Beech Twin Bomber Trainers

•Pearl Harbor/Flying Tigers (Curtis P-40 Warhawks) 

•Doolittle Raid (North American B-25 Mitchells) 

•Guadalcanal Campaign (Bell P-63/P-39 Kingcobras/Aerocobras) 

•Battle of Midway (Consolidated PBY Catalina, Grumman F4F/FM-2 Wildcats, 

Douglas SBD Dauntless) 

•Yamamoto Shoot down (Lockheed P-38 Lightnings) 

•Ploesti Raid (Consolidated B-24 Liberators) 

•Combined Bomber Offensive—Long-Range Fighter Escort/Tuskegee Airman 

(North American P-51 Mustangs) 

•Big Week (Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress) 

•D-Day (Douglas C-47/R4D Skytrain, Douglas A-26 Invader) 

•Marianas Turkey Shoot/Battle of Leyte Gulf (Grumman TBM Avengers, Grumman 

F6F Wildcats, Grumman F8F Bearcats, Curtis SB2C Helldivers) 

•Battle of the Bulge (Republic P-47 Thunderbolts) 

•Iwo Jima (Vought FG-1D Corsairs) 

•Final Air Offensive to Defeat Japan (Boeing B-29 Superfortress) 

CONCLUDES WITH A MISSING MAN FORMATION TO TAPS 

•The flight will be a mixture of the fighter aircraft, or a 4 ship of one model 

(Mustangs)
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3. Route of Flight/Restricted Area Waivers

The route of flight and approvals for flight in the restricted areas are being worked 

thru Mr. James Johnson (703) 563-3118 IAW the Administrators’ Letter of 19 

August, 2014 (attachment 2). The interagency suspense’s for these approvals are

very close to the event and history has shown they will not become final until the 

month before the event, or later. However, Mr. Johnson and the General Aviation 

Operations Branch, AFS-830, have been working together and have agreed upon the 

routes as shown below.

NOTE: The Washington FSDO, AFS-830 and the CAF have coordinated and we will 

apply for a waiver to FAR 91.119 to allow the flyover altitude as low as 1,000’ AGL.

Flight Path 

(Populated Area Close Up)
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Flight Path 

(Street View)
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4. Minimizing Adverse Effect/Equivalent Level of Safety:

A. The period of overflight and time to egress is extremely limited:

Thanks to the cooperation of the interagency working group and participation of 

AFS-830 in selecting this route, the total distance of populated area overflight is only 

3 miles and the period of overflight for each airplane is only 60-90 seconds. This 

very limited overflight is an overwhelming mitigation of potential risk associated 

with mechanical problems. It is extremely rare for any mechanical malfunction to 

progress to significant failure in a minute and a half. Moreover, at the most distant 

point during the flyover (approximately Independence and 3rd St.) the egress to the 

outbound river route is only 1 mile, or about 20-30 seconds.

 B. Similar aircraft operate with limited certificates:

The P-38s are of comparable make, construction, and materials as the WW II era 

fighters certificated in the limited category. The window for requesting the limited 

certification was relatively brief in relation to when the thrust to preserve them 

gained momentum and more importantly, the significance of the restrictions on 

experimental aircraft wasn’t anticipated in the immediate era after the war. The 

bottom line is these aircraft were certificated in the experimental category because 
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the owners failed to make appropriate applications, not because the aircraft were 

less safe and less reliable than those which were certificated in the limited category.

 C. The Pilots have specific FAA authorizations to operate these aircraft:

The pilots must receive specific training, be examined in the specific model and 

receive a type rating or authorization to operate these aircraft. These additional FAA 

requirements insure the pilots operating these aircraft are fully trained and 

qualified.

 D. The Pilots will be formation qualified IAW National Standards:

The pilots will be qualified and holders of current FAST credentials; the FAA 

recognized formation credential for waivered airspace.

 E. The aircraft are maintained and inspected IAW FAA required programs:

The Washington FSDO will be performing ramp inspections of these aircraft within 

two days of them participating in the flyover to verify airworthiness and compliance 

with Federal requirements.

NOTE: The aircraft are maintained by FAA credential mechanics.

5. Risk Assessment:

Fortunately, there are very few events which could result in one of these aircraft 

crashing into the populated area during the 60-90 seconds of the overflight and they 

are extremely rare. The longest distance to an unpopulated area is 1 mile, or 20-30 

seconds of flight, so even if something serious should happen, diverting away to the 

river route will protect the population. 

Catastrophic structural failures, immediate loss of power on both engines 

simultaneously and midair collisions are about the only things which could result in 

an aircraft going down in the populated areas. Structural failures and possibly loss 

of control in a midair collision could result in catastrophic damage on the ground, 

but loss of both engines would still allow the pilot to fly the airplane to the ground 

and avoid catastrophic damage. The P-38 can fly back to the river route on a single 

engine and poses no risk to the population. The FAST qualification of the pilots 

reduces the likelihood of catastrophic midair damage to improbable. The likelihood 

of lesser damage where the aircraft is still controllable is only a remote possibility.

Minimizing the time of the overflight as we have planned, special qualifications of 

the pilots (type ratings/authorizations and FAST cards), twin engines, annual 
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aircraft inspections and ramp checks by the FSDO all mitigate the likelihood of an 

accident in the very small area of the overflight to an acceptable level.

Risk Assessment Matrix

Population/Structures in DC Area for VE Day Flyover

Severity

Likelihood

of happening 

during a three 

minute period

Negligible 

IV

Less than

minor injury 

and/or less 

than minor 

structure

damage

Marginal

III

Minor injury 

and/or minor 

structure

damage

Critical

II

Severe injury 

and/or major 

structure

damage

Catastrophic

I

Results in 

fatalities 

and/or loss 

of structures

Frequent = A

Continuously 

experienced

Probable = B

Will occur often

Occasional = C

Likely to occur 

sometime

Remote = D

Unlikely, but 

possible

Loss of a 

single engine

2 Engine 

failure

And 

Midair lesser 

damage

Improbable = E

So unlikely, it can 

be assumed it will 

not occur

Structural 

failure

 And 

Midair loss 

of control
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A. Summary:

Participation of these American Fighters in the flyover of the National Mall 

celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WW II is in the public interest and the 

safety of the population is assured by the mitigations above.

I look forward to the opportunity of working with the Agency answering questions 

as they arise during the staffing of our request. Please contact me on my cell, or via 

email should the need arise.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Stenevik

Vice President of Safety, Maintenance and Operations

Commemorative Air Force

Cell 817-705-5817

rstenevik@cafhq.org

2 Attachments:

- Congressional Letter to the Administrator

- Administrators’ Letter of 19 August, 2014