Facing delays in obtaining waivers from recent noise rules that ban Stage 2 jets in Brazil, owners of 20-series Learjets met last month with officials from the country’s civil aviation agency, ANAC, to try to break the logjam. Brazil’s RBHA 36 standard, which is based on U.S. FAR Part 36 rules, allows the issuing of waivers for aircraft that don’t meet Stage 2/Annex 16 rules to operate at non-urban or private airports. In fact, 20-series Learjets continue to operate in many parts of the world, including the U.S., under such waivers to Stage 2 restrictions. Ten operators fly seventeen 20-series Learjets in Brazil, though so far only two operators have requested a waiver. Aviation law professor Georges de Moura Ferreira, who participated in the meeting last month, told AIN that some requests for waivers have been pending more than five months, although the law requires a response within 30 to 60 days. He said the problem is that ANAC is underfunded and thus “is understaffed, with only about 40 percent of the manpower it needs to meet the current needs of Brazilian aviation, which is growing at 30 percent annually.”