"Ron Wanttaja" wrote ...

As far as I know, "public use" aircraft (and their pilots) are exempt from
the
FAA requirements. Agency *policy* may require pilots and aircraft to hold
appropriate FAA documents, but policies can be altered.

Back when the Shuttle was first launched, I seem to recall something about
the
FAA ruling that it had no jurisdiction in such a case...basically,
transitory
use of the airspace. NOTAM it, and they were satisfied.

But who knows....

Ron,

You're right about public use aircraft, the Forest Service issues its own
pilot licences though all of our company's pilots also had FAA certificates.
That wasn't true for all companies. The Forest Service also inspected all
of our aircraft and ALL FARs were optional. That's NOT a good thing when it
comes to duty times and crew rest. That made for some really miserable days
and nights. The Marshal Service, on the other hand, required FAA
certificates but understood the sensitive nature of our passengers sometimes
required some deviation from the rules.

If you think the Shuttle isn't a military craft, you should try and dig out
the spec mission that sized the payload bay.

Rich