Public use aircraft - pilot certificate  

It is kind of odd that there are some that don't know you can operate government aircraft without an FAA pilot certificate. But none of us know everything so it is a good learning point. However, it is a bit funny to see some note that nobody would do that because of insurance reasons. Additionally for those who say those pilots must comply with regs when in the NAS, that is not exactly true as RJ Macready pointed out.

The truth is that public use and military flight operations comply with FAA regulations because somewhere in their regulations is says they have to. If the military decided tomorrow that they don't have to follow FAA regulations there is nothing the FAA could do about it. However, it makes sense that this is the rule so everyone is on the same page.

With that said, they all have allowances for deviations somewhere in their regulations that boil down to as previously noted: Follow FAA rules and regulations until you can't. When you can't there is probably a rule that tells you what you can do. 

You have already beaten to death the discussion about not needing an FAA pilot certification but there iare more allowed deviations.

An easy example is the potential need to hover directly over a house, at night, in a populated area to catch a bad guy. It is against FAA rules but your boss won't punish you even if the FAA whines that you are in the NAS and that is not allowed. As long as you followed the organizational rules once you couldn't follow FAA regs, you have nothing to fear.

Another one is the need to fly in weather that would be less than what is allowed. A Coast Guard pilot can fly VMC in nearly zero-zero weather if the need exists. It is all in their regs. The FAA can't violate them for following Coast Guard regulations. 

What else is there? Flight with no position or anti collision lights, being on ready duty longer than 14 hours, Oh, you can even fly really, really fast if you are chasing a bad guy in your jet. We even flew when the rest of the world was grounded after 9/11. The FAA was very nice helping us violate that rule. Not one pilot had their certificate threatened. 

I have dealt with the FAA being upset at a military pilot on a few occassions. We told the FAA we would take care of it and we did. Everyone was happy. The truth is, the FAA doesn't want to deal with a military or state operated aircraft or pilot if they don't need to. Most don't know what exemptions those pilots are authorized anyway. If there is a clear and obvious violation, the FAA will contact the organization and the organization will take care of it. The FAA isn't going to do anything to the pilot's certificate. There would be too much red tape to do it.