In a landmark decision that has potential to change the face of the regional cargo industry, the Federal Aviation Administration granted Ameriflight an exemption, allowing the Burbank-based cargo carrier to exceed the 7,500 pound freight payload limit imposed upon Part 135 cargo operators. The exemption, although quite narrow, is applicable only to Ameriflight's Embraer Brasilia EMB 120ER freighters and includes equipment, maintenance and training requirements intended to emulate Part 121 requirements. It specifically allows maximum payloads in the area of 8,000 pounds.

"The additional 500 pounds does not seem like much," said John Hazlet, vice president of safety and standards and director of operations for the carrier, "but it is important to the customer. The grant itself isn't that earth shattering, but this is the kind of precedent that, downstream, has big implications." Those implications stem from a recommendation by the Part 125/135 Aviation Rulemaking Committee, which favors increasing payload limits for all-cargo carriers to 18,000 pounds. Hazlet indicated Ameriflight has been working with the FAA on the exemption for six years and he and Stan Bernstein, president of the Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association, heaped praise on the agency and on Kathy Perfetti, Part 135 national resource specialist, and Jim Ballough, director of flight standards, for their careful consideration and creativity in addressing this issue. The petition was denied twice. "This was cooperative effort on the part of a lot of people in the FAA who are thinking outside the box," said Hazlet, noting that the airline was already able to carry the extra weight in fuel, just not in payload capacity.

In its grant, the FAA noted Ameriflight's petition was supported by four associations, the Regional Air Carrier Cargo Association (RACCA), the Private Air Carrier Association (PACA), the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) and the Alaska Air Carriers Association (AACA). Opposing it were the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the Teamsters Union, saying it would not meet standards for a single level of safety. Hazlet, however, said it does provide for an equivalent level of safety including requirements for a Continuous Airworthiness Maintenance Program,

US dollars 135.411(a)(2) as well as EFIS, CVR, FDR, TCAS, GPWS, autopilot and a flight following system compliant with FAR 121.125, all of which essentially mirrors FAR 121. The grant also is very specific in its requirements that exceed the basic FAR 135 cargo rules which are specifically intended to provide a level of safety equivalent to Part 121 cargo operations. Operations under this exemption are limited to EMB-120ER airplanes modified into dedicated freighters under STC 00598WI, or to aircraft model EMB-120FC (the Embraer factory freighter converstion), said the FAA in its grant, which added that weight in excess of 7,500 pounds be calculated by determining the difference between the certificated Maximum Zero-Fuel Weight (MZFW) and the actual Empty Operating Weight (EOW) plus crew weight. No increase to the airplanes' certificated maximum weight is authorized under this exemption.

Hazlet echoed comments from the four supporting organizations, which detailed the safety and economic implications of granting the exemption potentially. It could lead to more widespread use of modern Part 25 aircraft in regional cargo operation and a significant upgrade in the Part 135 air cargo fleet. With the acquisition of part 25 aircraft, the air cargo fleet would be significantly upgraded including EFIS, CVR, DFDR, TCAS, GPWS, autopilot and a flight following system compliant with FAR 121.125, all of which essentially mirrors FAR 121. "The extra equipment required in the exemption isn't required under Part 135," noted Hazlet, "and we could have saved a lot of weight and money taking that stuff off the aircraft when we acquired them from passenger operations. But we decided we needed to keep it, and, of course it will stay when we operate under the exemption. These aircraft are far better than the Beech 99s, Embraer Bandeirantes and Metros that currently are being operated in this part of the industry." The four associations and Hazlet also pointed to the cockpit design, instrumentation, powerplants, cargo restraint systems and parts availability, along with the enhanced training capacity using full simulators. They also cited easing the burden on air traffic control, as two or three trips using smaller equipment are replaced with one trip with a large aircraft. The larger payload capacity will allow movement of a given volume of freight with fewer airplanes and with fewer takeoffs and landings, thereby providing less exposure to risk, reduction in air traffic burden, fuel efficiencies and noise reduction.

"The decision truly changes the landscape for cargo operations," said Bernstein, "And I give full credit to the FAA for recognizing the changes needed and working on developing a system that provides service in the safest way possible. The reason the FAA did it is the exceptional quality of the Ameriflight operation. The potential for this is enormous. The smallest planes operated by the major cargo carriers -- Fed Ex, UPS and DHL -- are 727s and DC9s. That leaves a huge void between an aircraft like the Beech 1900 and the 727. Now Saab, Embraer and ATR are coming to us, trying to break into the freighter market because this will extend the lives of their aircraft. This really opens up a whole new market." It affords the major operators the ability to "right size" the aircraft to the market. While current jets operated by the major cargo operators are too big, the Metros and Beechs are too small, making the Brasilia, Saab, ATR aircraft a better fit. "There are many markets, such as Pittsburgh-Louisville, that do not make money because they are using the 727. Now operators may ultimately be able to use smaller aircraft such as the ATR 42 and make money on such routes," concluded Bernstein. John Hazlet, (818)847-0000 x 300; Stan Bernstein, 508-747-1430, RACCAemail@aol.com.