Okaloosa County BOCC — January 21, 2014 — Exhibit 3 Okaloosa County's Response to Armstrong Letter to FAA

Board of County Commissioners State of Florida January 9, 2013 Ms. Deandra Brooks Airport Compliance Specialist Southern Region Airports Division Federal Aviation Administration P.O. Box 20636 Atlanta, GA 30320-0631 Re: Okaloosa County's response to Armstrong letter to FAA of 10-23-13 Dear Ms. Brooks: This is in response to the October 23 letter to you from Alan Armstrong, on behalf of Emerald Coast Helicopters and Timberview Helicopters, responding to Okaloosa County's initial answer to the Emerald Coast Helicopters/Timberview Part 13 complaint. This letter will address Mr. Armstrong’s questions and statements, and also provide an explanation of why his proposed operation at Destin Airport (DTS) is not acceptable. 1. Why is Crestview Airport (CEW) more safe for banner towing than DTS? CEW is a much larger facility, at 1080 acres compared to 395 acres at DTS. CEW has fewer operations than DTS, and has areas that allow helicopter pickup and dropoff of banners that meet FAA heliport design standards and do not interfere with other operations or impact residential areas, which DTS does not. 2. Why does Okaloosa County allow Marine Osprey aircraft to use DTS, but not allow banner towing? The County does not ban any routine fixed wing or rotor wing operations at DTS, civil or military, that can operate within the capacity of the airport's facilities and runway length, and has no reason to restrict Osprey operations. Banner towing operations have special requirements for use of airport facilities beyond what is Courthouse Courthouse Annex 1804 Lewis Turner Blvd., Suite 100 101 E. James Lee Blvd. ¢ Crestview, FL 32536 1250 N. Eglin Pkwy. ¢ Shalimar, FL 32579 Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547 (850) 689-5030 ° FAX: 689-5059 (850) 651-7100 (850) 651-7105 ¢ FAX: 651-7142 required for normal operations, even military aircraft operations. The rationale for specific limits on banner towing is set out below. 3. How can the County restrict banner towing when Grant Assurance 22 requires a sponsor to allow access by all classes and categories of aircraft and aircraft operators? The County responded to this point in its earlier letter. Grant assurance 22 of course does not require unrestricted access for all operations, but allows restrictions on operations that cannot be conducted at the airport without an unacceptable impact on safety and on the operating efficiency of the airport for other operators. Restrictions must be reasonable, but are allowed. 4. Since DTS was listed as an authorized airport for banner towing on Emerald Coast Helicopters’s operations specifications, doesn’t that listing undermine the County’s determination that banner towing at DTS is unsafe? To our knowledge the banner towing waiver issued by the FAA’s Birmingham Flight Standards District Office to permit banner towing in Okaloosa County does not list DTS as an authorized airport. Even if it did, we assume that Flight Standards, in issuing operations specifications to Emerald Coast Helicopters, would primarily have been concerned with Emerald Coast Helicopters’s qualifications as an operator to conduct banner towing operations. FAA Flight Standards has not coordinated with County airport management on this issue, and we have no evidence that Flight Standards has considered the conditions at DTS that could have an adverse effect on the airport's operating efficiency or the safety of other operators and adjacent residents. 5. Given the listing of the airport on Emerald Coast Helicopters ’s operations specifications and the fact that FAA has not made a finding that banner towing at DTS is unsafe, how could the County legally enforce a determination that helicopter banner towing at DTS is unsafe? The County responded to this general point in its earlier letter. An airport operator has proprietary powers to impose reasonable operating restrictions at its airport for various reasons. Restrictions are subject to the FAA’s ultimate determination of whether a restriction is reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory, but there is no legal requirement for an airport operator to wait for an FAA determination before addressing a safety issue. 6. The County amended its rules to prohibit banner towing at DTS after Emerald Coast Helicopters applied for a lease on the airport. First, the County has not prohibited Emerald Coast Helicopters from conducting sightseeing helicopter operations or leasing space at DTS. The restriction applies only to banner towing pickups and dropoffs on airport property. A lease for Emerald Coast Helicopters’ or Timberview’s Part 135 operations would be acceptable if the operator complies with the County's permit requirements. Second, the County has consistently enforced a policy of restricting banner towing operations, but had not included that prohibition in its written operating rules when Emerald Coast Helicopters applied for a lease. The decision to amend the published rules to include the restriction was made after Emerald Coast Helicopters applied for a lease, but that decision made no change in the County’s longstanding policy of prohibiting banner towing at DTS. 7. Does the banner towing restriction apply equally at DTS and CEW? The County has no written rule or policy restricting banner towing at CEW, and Emerald Coast Helicopters is free to conduct banner towing pickups and dropoffs at CEW, in an appropriate area of the airport property. Airport management will work with Mr. Johnson to identify a suitable location and issue a permit through a lease agreement. 8. The Okaloosa County Planning and Development staff has submitted a Planning Commission Agenda Request to adopt a “no-fly zone” over the East Pass and Destin Harbor. The staff has proposed a zoning restriction on certain aircraft takeoffs and landings in a small area of the County, under the County’s routine local zoning authority. The County staff was careful to avoid any suggestion that the measure was intended to affect aircraft in flight. As evident from the attachment in Mr. Armstrong’s own letter, the proposed restriction by its terms “relates strictly to control over ground space and is not intended in any way to regulate aircraft safety, navigable airspace, aircraft noise, aircraft in flight” or vessels. As a pilot and attorney, Mr. Armstrong surely understands the difference between FAA airspace restrictions such as prohibited areas and restricted areas on the one hand, and local zoning restrictions on surface uses on the other. The proposed County zoning ordinance has no effect on where aircraft can fly. 9. The County’s off-airport zoning restrictions on the location of helicopter takeoffs and landings may be constitutional, but show a pattern and practice of restricting banner towing in navigable airspace. Notwithstanding the quotation marks around ‘Constitutional issue,’ Mr. Armstrong concedes that off-airport zoning is a constitutional issue for the courts and not an issue for the FAA airport compliance process. Surface zoning of course has no regulatory effect on the navigation of aircraft through the airspace above. If it did, virtually every zoning ordinance that restricted an area to uses other than an airport (i.e, almost every zoning restriction in the U.S.) would be a regulation of airspace. 10. There is no safety issue at DTS because the banner towing pickups and dropoffs would be conducted from the grass and not the ramp. Grass or not, the area proposed by Emerald Coast Helicopters, as shown in Mr. Armstrong’s letter, is not consistent with FAA airport standards for DTS and is very close to a busy public road and residential housing along that road. As detailed in the enclosed Destin Airport Helipad Siting Study prepared by RS&H Engineering, there are multiple standards issues which rule out the proposed location for Emerald Coast Helicopters’ banner towing operations: e While the 97’ by 97’ helicopter safety area recommended for a Robinson R44 can be contained on the proposed site, that standard defines the safe area for basic helicopter operations, and not for pickup and dropoff of banners. e The proposed site is all grass. While operation from grass does not pose a risk to the helicopter, it does create the potential for blowing debris across a public road and residential areas nearby. FAA AC 150/5390-2C recommends pavement of the Final Approach and Takeoff Area (FATO) and the Touchdown and Liftoff Area (TLOF), which is not feasible for a temporary helipad. e The edge of the HSA would be less than 100 feet from Airport Road, a public highway, and approximately 300 feet from nearby residential apartments along Airport Road. Any extended hovering operations at the proposed site would have a significant impact on highway traffic and residential use. e There is currently no legal ground access to the proposed site, which is bordered by the airport fence, the RPZ for Runway 14-32, and an airport tenant’s proprietary leasehold. e Approach and departure paths consistent with AC 5390-2C and which would be necessary to avoid low overflight (with a banner in tow) of residences and other structures along Airport Road would take helicopters across the extended centerline of DTS runway 14-32. DTS is an uncontrolled airport, and the crossing of helicopter operations and fixed- wing traffic increases the risk of mid-air collision. e Banner towing pickup and dropoff operations take up more space than basic helicopter takeoffs and landings, and are affected differently by wind conditions. The helicopter operator could not assure that banners would not wind up in the Runway 14-32 RPZ on one side or on Airport Road on the other. For these reasons, we concur with the recommendations in the enclosed siting study. In summary: 1. While a standard helipad could be sited at the location proposed by Emerald Coast Helicopters, the siting requirements do not reflect the specialized requirements of banner tow operations. Banner tow operations should not be allowed in this area. 2. For proposed operation at any Okaloosa County airport, a helicopter banner tow operator should be instructed to develop an operating plan consistent with the requirements of FAA Form 7711-2 Application for Certificate of Waiver, and to submit the operating plan to the Airport for concurrence prior to submitting the Application to the FAA Flight Standards District Office. The operating plan should ensure compatibility between the banner tow operation and Airport traffic under various wind conditions, describe helicopter hovering areas that are as far from residences as possible, and outline methods to prevent hovering or banner pick- up/drop-off in the RPZ and/or Airport Road. 3. An FAA Certificate of Waiver for banner towing operations should require approval by the County before operation at a particular County airport. Accordingly, we believe the County's decision to accommodate helicopter banner towing operations at CEW and not DTS is reasonable and consistent with the County's grant assurances, and we request that you dismiss the Part 13 complaint from Emerald Coast Helicopters. If you should need any clarification or additional information, please contact Sunil Harman, Airports Director, at 850-651-7160 ext. 4. Sincerely, Ahh h Whar Charles K. Windes, Jr. Chairman Cc: Board of County Commissioners County Administrator County Attorney Airports Director Orlando Airports District Office Enclosure