1RANS STAlES 

AIRLINES® 

August 12, 2016 

VIA CERTIFIED MAIU 

RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

Docket Management System 

400 7th Street, SW, Room PL-400 

Washington, DC 20591-0001 

RE: TRANS STATES AIRLINES, LLC 

C?ptain Dav -iplJJ.j:ig,T OF V1ce Preside 1• ~ · 11495 Navai SPORTArfON 

St. Louis, Missouri 63044 

(314) 222- 4inhotn~ 

(314) 222-4,UQ=~ I I 2 p 3: q I 

DOCKET OPERATIONS 

~ \ ',. . 

REQUEST FOR EXEMPTION FROM FAR 121.434(c)(1)(ii) 

Dear Sir or Madam: 

This letter is to request that an exemption from compliance with 14 C.F.R. 

121.434(c)(1 )(ii) be granted to Trans States Airlines, LLC. (hereafter ~~Trans 

States"). 

This exemption request was previously granted to Trans States Airlines, Inc. 

(now Trans States Airlines, LLC) on May 31, 2003, February 17, 2005, May 22, 

2007 and most recently issued on October 29, 2013. In addition, this exemption 

is identical to exemptions granted to Chautauqua AirHnes, GoJet Airlines, and 

Compass Airlines to name a few. Specifically, Trans States request relief from 

the following regulation: 

FAR 121.434(c)(1 )(ii) prescribes, in pertinent part, that if a qualifying PIC is 

completing initial or upgrade training specified in §121.424, the PIC must be 

observed in the performance of prescribed duties by an FAA inspector during at 

least one flight leg that includes a takeoff and a landing. 

In support of its request, Trans States provides the following information: 

The original intent of §121.434(c)(1)(ii), issued in early 1970, was to validate the 

training a pilot received in a visual simulator. Since that rule was adopted, the 

airline industry has had nearly three decades of experience with visual simulators 

and advanced simulation. The airlines have successfully trained tens of 

thousands of pilots using sophisticated advanced simulators. Trans States 

believes the advanced simulation experience ·of the airline industry combined 

with that of the FAA has made the present rule obsolete. 

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Trans States asserts that delays caused by waiting until the FAA can observe a 

qualifying PIC are costly. Trans States asserts that because of limited labor and 

resources at the St. Louis, Missouri, Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), 

Trans States' Principal Operations Inspector (POl) has had difficulty providing 

personnel to perform operating experience (OE) observations on a timely basis. 

Recognizing it as an unacceptable long-term solution, Trans States has tried to 

use inspectors from other FSDO's in the past; however, the results have been 

inconsistent. Trans States asserts that these are extensive, with an average wait 

of 10 days. 

Trans States further asserts that the FAA has the authority to, and routinely does, 

observe any pilot at any time. However, the FAA conducts these routine 

observations on a schedule that the local office sets without the burden of having 

to observe a particular pilot on specific flights necessitated by the airline's 

training and service schedule. 

Trans States contends that relieving the FAA inspectors of their obligation to 

observe pilots as required under §121.434(c)(1)(ii) would allow the FAA to focus 

its efforts on higher priority safety concerns. 

Trans States has been advised that at Safety Summit I, sponsored by the DOT 

and the FAA, one of the recommendations from the Training Issues Working 

Group was to allow a qualified company check airman to provide the FAA 

observation when an FAA inspector is not available. Trans States adds that this 

would allow the FAA to target its personnel on those area deserving higher 

priority and attention and, thus, provide a more cost-effe.ctive use of an 

inspector's time. Trans States states on information and belief that this Safety 

Summit I recommendation has been endorsed at all levels of the FAA as an 

action that clearly would benef;t the FAA and airlines. 

Trans States believes that the exemption would be in the public interest as it 

would; 

1. Allow the FAA greater flexibility and better use of its inspection force by 

focusing on higher priority safety functions; 

2. Allow Trans States Airlines to use a qualified pilot immediately after 

completing OE; 

3. Allow Trans States Airlines to significantly increase the use of qualified 

pilots and improve its ability to provide on-time, dependable air service 

to the public; and 

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4. Allow Trans States Airlines to reduce the unnecessary cost of wages 

and lost productivity for those qualified pilots waiting for the FAA 

observation. 

5. Allow Trans States Airlines to compete on equal playing field with other 

regional airlines; specifically Chatauqua Airlines, GoJet Airlines, and 

Compass Airlines all of whom currently enjoy such an exemption. 

Trans States further adds that, in some instances, the FAA inspector performing 

the observation may not even be qualified in the airplane being flown. By 

allowing a company check airman who is highly qualified in the airplane to 

complete the observation, a greater level of scrutiny and objectivity would be 

provided for the qualifying PIC. 

Finally, Trans States proposes that the requested exemption be subject to the 

following conditions and limitations, if granted: 

1. Trans States Airlines would submit to its POl an estimate of the 

number of PICs completing training and a plan of how OE observations 

would be conducted. The plan would be approved by the POl before a 

qualified check airman began an OE observation. 

2. Trans States Airlines would nominate qualified check airmen to 

perform the OE observation, and the FAA would approve the qualified 

check airmen to conduct the observation through a letter of 

authorization. 

3. The requirement of §121.434(c)(1)(ii) would be considered fulfilled if a 

FAA-authorized check airman performs the observation. The 

observation requirement would be documented in the qualifying pilot's 

record. 

4. The authoriz:ed oheck airman would be a check airman other than the 

one who is conducting the OE flights of the qualifying pilot. 

Thank you for your consideration of our request of this exemption. If you require 

any further information please call me at 314-222-4316. 

avid J. A. Hayes, Ill Esq. 

Vice President & General Counsel 

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