(a) Applicability. This Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) applies to the following persons:

(1) All U.S. air carriers and U.S. commercial operators;

(2) All persons exercising the privileges of an airman certificate issued by the FAA, except when such persons are operating U.S.-registered aircraft for a foreign air carrier; and

(3) All operators of U.S.-registered civil aircraft, except when the operator of such aircraft is a foreign air carrier.

(b) Flight prohibition. Except as provided in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section, no person described in paragraph (a) of this section may conduct flight operations in the territory and airspace of Somalia at altitudes below Flight Level (FL) 260.

(c) Permitted operations. This section does not prohibit persons described in paragraph (a) of this section from conducting flight operations in the territory and airspace of Somalia under the following circumstances:

(1) Overflights of Somalia may be conducted at or above FL260 subject to the approval of, and in accordance with the conditions established by, the appropriate authorities of Somalia.

(2) Flight operations may be conducted in the territory and airspace of Somalia at altitudes below FL260 if such flight operations are conducted under a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement with a department, agency, or instrumentality of the U.S. Government (or under a subcontract between the prime contractor of the U.S. Government department, agency, or instrumentality and the person described in paragraph (a) of this section) with the approval of the FAA or under an exemption issued by the FAA. The FAA will consider requests for approval or exemption in a timely manner, with the order of preference being: First, for those operations in support of U.S. Government-sponsored activities; second, for those operations in support of government-sponsored activities of a foreign country with the support of a U.S. government department, agency, or instrumentality; and third, for all other operations.

(d) Emergency situations. In an emergency that requires immediate decision and action for the safety of the flight, the pilot in command of an aircraft may deviate from this section to the extent required by that emergency. Except for U.S. air carriers and commercial operators that are subject to the requirements of 14 CFR part 119, 121, 125, or 135, each person who deviates from this section must, within 10 days of the deviation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays, submit to the responsible Flight Standards office a complete report of the operations of the aircraft involved in the deviation, including a description of the deviation and the reasons for it.

(e) Expiration. This SFAR will remain in effect until January 7, 2023. The FAA may amend, rescind, or extend this SFAR as necessary.

[Docket FAA-2007-27602, Amdt.91-339, 81 FR 726, Jan. 7, 2016, as amended by Amdt. 91-339A, 82 FR 58550, Dec. 13, 2017; Docket FAA-2018-0119, Amdt. 91-350, 83 FR 9172, Mar. 5, 2018; Amdt. 91-339B, 84 FR 67671, Dec. 11, 2019]