AFS

- 15

- 341

- E Exemption No. 11118 A

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of

AVIATION INSTITUTE OF Regulatory Docket No. FAA

- 2014

- 0660

MAINTENANCE

for an exemption from § 65

. 7 5 (a)

of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations

AMENDMENT OF EXEMPTION

AND DENIAL OF RECONSIDERATION

By letter dated August 20 , 2014 , Mr. Gerald Yagen, President, Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM , or Petitioner ), 4455 South Boulevard, Virginia Beach, VA 23452 petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of AIM for an exemption

from § 65.7 5 (a) of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed exemption, if granted, would allow students enrolled in AIM’s part 147 aviation maintenance

techn ician school (AMTS) in Casselberry, FL, operating under Air Agency Certificate Q5VT572K, to take the Aviation Mechanic General (AMG), Aviation Mechanic Airframe (AMA), and Aviation Mechanic Powerplant (AMP) written tests after completing the corresponding portion of the curriculum, but prior to meeting the experience requirements of 14 CFR § 65.77. On December 8, 2014, we issued to AIM Exemption No. 11118, granting in
part but denying the exemption with respect to the AMA and AMP written test. On

December 19, 2014, AIM petitioned for reconsideration. We deny AIM’s petition for reconsideration. We also amend the conditions and limitations of AIM’s Exemption

No. 11118, in accordance with our ongoing efforts to standardize § 65.75 exemptions, described in g reater detail below

.2

Petitioner requested relief from the following regulation:

Section 65.75(a) requir es, in pertinent part, that “ [ e ] ach applicant for a mechanic certificate or rating must, after meeting the applicable experience requirements of § 65. 77 , pass a written test covering the construction and maintenance of aircraft appropriate to the rating he seeks, the regulations in [subpart D (Mechanics),] and the applicable provisions of parts 43 and 91.” (Emphasis added.)

Petitioner supported its req uest with the following information:

Petitioner stated that the public interest would be served by allowing an aviation maintenance

technician student to take each FAA written test immediately following his or her completion

of the related course material. Petitioner stated that s tudent learning would be enhanced and reinforced by the immediate feedback provided by the testing experience , and that t his immediate feedback, coupled with a sense of accomplishment, would encourage students to

continue their st udies and reduce dropout rates

.

Petitioner stated that it currently has an established procedure for identify ing and report ing any

gr aduate eligible to take FAA

- mandated written, oral

, and practical tests to Petitioner’s own

on

- site written test center a nd the Casselberry, FL, Flight Standards District Office (FSDO)

. P etitioner propose d to use the same procedure to identify and report students who would qualify to take the written AMA or AMP tests. Petitioner also proposed to withhold each
student’s indi vidual graduation certificate or certificate of completion until after the student successfully complete d the entirety of the program in which the student enrolled ( i.e. , AMA or AMP). Petitioner stated that its petition d id not differ materially from othe rs on record, and

noted that the FAA had found those similar requests in the public interest.

A lthough AIM is correct that its initial petition for exemption does not differ materially from others on record, and that the FAA has previously grant ed exempti ons to § 65.75, t he FAA recently concluded that these exemptions could inadvertently enable an individual to obtain

his or her AMA or AMP certificate without satisfying the mechanic certificate eligibility requirements of § 65 .77

. 1 In light of this reeval uation, t he FAA has undertaken to revise and

make consistent its exemptions to § 65.75(a). Accordingly, Exemption No

. 11118 granted AIM an exemption with respect to the AMG written test but denied the exemption with respect to the AMA and AMP written test s. The FAA determined that good cause existed to waive the requirement for Federal Register publication because the exemption did not set a precedent, and any delay in acting on the petition would have been detrimental to AIM.

The FAA’s reevaluation of § 65.75(a) exemptions stemmed from our discovery of a loophole that could potentially have allowed students to totally circumvent our experience requirements. Students must, among other things, take written, oral, and practical tests to

obtain a mechanic c ertificate. U nder § 65.80, an AMTS may under some circumstances
administer a student’s required oral and practical tests before the student satisfies the

1 Section 65.77 requires each applicant for a mechanic certificate or rating to present evidence of at least 18 months, and in some cases at least 30 months, of practical experience.3

experience requirements of § 65.77. Under § 65.75(a), however, a ll students must satisfy § 65.77 bef

ore taking any written tests. By granting AIM’s request to allow students to take

the AMA and AMP written tests before completing the experience requirements in § 65.77, we could inadvertently enable those students to totally circumvent our experience

req uirements

, b ecause a student could obtain a copy of his or her academic record indicating that the student has passed the AMA or AMP examinations, and provide that record to another school without disclosing that the student never satisfied the appropriate experience requirements.

Perhaps to mitigate this very concern, AIM also propose d to withhold a graduation certificate or certificate of completion until after the successful completion of the entire program in

wh i ch the student was enrolled . Unfortun ately, the proposed mitigation would not work because it would violate § 147.35(a), which requires each AMTS to “provide a transcript of the student’s grades to each student who is graduated from that school or who leaves it before being graduated.

. . . The transcript must state the curriculum in which the student was enrolled, whether the student satisfactorily completed the curriculum, and the final grades the student received.” (Emphasis added.) This regulation prohibits AIM from withholding a

studen t’s certificate until graduation if the student left without graduating. Moreover, the presence of grades on a transcript could erroneously suggest that a student both completed the

AMA or AMP exam inations and satisfied the § 65.77 experience requirements

. The FAA has

, therefore

, taken action to amend all such exemptions by issu ing a Partial Grant of Exemption

to all affected AMTS s.

The FAA does not have the same concerns regarding students who take the AMG examination before satisfying § 65.77. A studen t who successfully completes the AMG exam is not eligible to receive a mechanic certificate until after the student also completes the AMP or

AMA exams. There is

, therefore

, no risk that a student who completes the AMG exam prior to satisfying the § 65.77 experience requirements will circumvent our regulations.

In addition, certain conditions and limitations included in this partial grant are necessary to ensure an equivalent level of safety with § 65.75(a). Th ese conditions

— requir ing AIM to develop writ ten testing procedures

, include th o se procedures in its approved operating

document or manual , and obtain approval of those procedures from its Certificate Holding

District Office

— ensure that AIM’s educational program and curricula continue to meet FAA

reg ulatory standards. The other condition of this exemption requires that, before AIM may

retest an y student who has failed the AMG test and who also does not meet the experience requirements of § 65.77, AIM must retrain the student on the entire instruction al unit

associated with the failed test and authorize the student to retake the test. To be clear, a ny student who is eligible to take the AMG test on the basis of his or her own experience, who does not need to rely on this exemption, may retrain accordi ng to § 65.19

— including with any appropriately certificated airman

. However, this exemption also creates a population of students who do not satisfy the § 65.77 experience requirements, and who are eligible to retake the AMG test only because of AIM’s exe mption

. To maintain an equivalent level of safety, this exemption requires AIM to retrain these students itself, using FAA

- approved4

curricula and in accordance with the FAA’s AMTS standards, including the quality of

instruction standards codified in § 147 .38a.

In light of the FAA’s reevaluation of § 65.75(a) exemptions, the FAA began the process of withdrawing or amending all previously granted exemptions to § 65.75(a), to allow students to take the AMG written test only

— and not the AMA or AMP tests

— imme diately after completing the corresponding curriculum. In the case of Exemption No. 11118, the FAA issued its decision in the form of a partial grant, granting AIM’s request with respect to the AMG and denying AIM’s request with respect to the AMA and AMP

.

Petitioner’s petition for reconsideration raised the following issues:

On December 19, 2014, AIM petitioned for reconsideration. Pursuant to § 11.101, a petition er may request reconsideration of a denied petition within 60 days of the denial . To

the extent that the FAA previously determined that no exemption to § 65.75(a) should

continue to include the AMA and AMP written tests, the FAA now determines its partial grant

constitutes a denial with respect to the AMA and AMP tests and that Petitioner is t herefore entitled to submit a petition for reconsideration.

A petition for reconsideration must show at least one of the following:

 A s ignificant additional fact, and the reasons it was not presented in the original
petition;

 That the FAA made an importan t factual error when it denied the original petition;

 That the FAA did not correctly interpret a law, regulation, or precedent.

In its request, AIM asserted both that the FAA made a factual error and incorrectly interpreted a law, regulation, or precedent. With respect to the factual error, AIM stated that its procedures dictate that students are only issued certificates indicating completion of the program after completing the entire rating (i.e., AMA and/or AMP) program. More specifically, AIM stated th at “an Airframe and [/] o r combined Airframe/Powerplant Graduation Certificate issued by the school . . . can only be issued at the completion of the respective rating in accordance with 14 CFR [ and ] . . . can only be issued at the completion of the respect ive rating in accordance with 14 CFR and 65.77.” We presume that AIM raises this issue to argue that an AIM student who passes the AMA or AMP written tests will not receive

a certificate from the school until after the student also complet es the § 65.77 e xperience requirements, and therefore no students will be able to circumvent FAA regulations. However, as we described above, even if AIM withholds graduation certificates, § 147.35(a) requires AIM and any other AMTS to provide a transcript to any student who requests it. Therefore, if we extended this exemption to cover the AMA and AMP written tests, AIM would be unable to prevent its students from circumventing § 65.77.

AIM also appears to challenge our interpretation of FAA regulations by way of cont esting the validity of a condition and l imitation

, placed on its exemption

, requiring AIM to retrain and authorize the retesting of certain AIM students who fail the AMG exam. AIM correctly5

observes that this condition and limitation is derived from § 65. 19, which requires any applicant seeking to retest on any “ written, oral, or practical test for a certificate and rating” to either wait 30 days or obtain “additional instruction in each of the subjects failed” and a signed statement from a ny qualified air man who provides the additional training. In its petition for reconsideration, AIM states that “the general is not a rating ; however, the condition and limitation . . . requires a student to repeat the entire instruction unit . . . .” To

the extent that AIM argues the AMG written test is not a test for a certificate or rating, we disagree. The AMG test

— like the AMA and AMP tests

— is a prerequisite to any mechanic’s

certificate. Although the AMG test is the first stepping stone in a mechanic training prog ram
, and passing the AMG test does not itself qualify a student for a mechanic certificate in the same manner as passing the AMA or AMP test, the AMG test exists solely for the purpose of qualifying students who are training for the AMA or AMP mechanic cer tificate

. The AMG

test is, therefore, a test for a certificate or rating.

Finally, AIM also states that the exemption gives “ a decisive disadvantage to this individual
school” relative to other AMTS s . As a preliminary matter, we re emphasize that § 11. 101 limits a petitioner’s arguments in a petition for re consideration to three categories: a significant additional fact, and the reason why it was not presented in the original petition; an important factual error in our denial of the original petition; o r a showing that our denial

included an incorrect interpretation of law, regulation, or precedent. Although we find that AIM’s competitive disadvantage argument does not fall into any of the abovementioned categories, we will nevertheless address it. We disagree with AIM that our decision to limit the exemption to allow administration of only the AMG written test before completion of the § 65.77 experience requirement will place AIM at a competitive disadvantage relative to its peers. As we described abo ve, the FAA has reevaluated its position on § 65.75(a) exemptions. As § 65.75(a) exemption holders apply for a renewal (the FAA typically grants exemptions only for a two

- year term), the FAA will continue to revise all such exemptions in

the same manner a s AIM’s.

The FAA’s Decision:

For the reasons described above, t he FAA continues to withdraw or amend all previously granted exemptions to § 65.75(a), which enabled an AMTS to administer the AMG, AMA,

and AMP written tests immediately following a student’s successful completion of the corresponding curricul a. The FAA’s new or revised exemptions to § 65.75(a) will allow an AMTS to administer the AMG examination immediately after students complet e the corresponding curriculum and prior to satisfying the expe rience requirements of § 65.77 , but

will not allow an AMTS to administer the AMA or AMP examinations before students satisfy § 65.77.

In consideration of the f

oregoing, I find in the present case that a partial grant of exemption

No. 11118 continues to be in the public interest

, and I deny AIM’s petition for

reconsideration

. We therefore uphold AIM’s partial grant

, Exemption No. 11118 , issued December 8, 2014 , which allow s students to take the AMG examination immediately after6

completing the correspondi ng curriculum, but does not allow students to take the AMA or AMP examinations before completing the corresponding curricula. We also amend Exemption No. 11118 to reflect the conditions and limitations listed below.

P ursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113, and 44701

, Aviation Institute of Maintenance Exemption No. 11118 remains in effect to the extent necessary to

allow AIM in Casselberry, FL , under Air Agency Certificate Q5VT572K

, to administer the

AMG written test to any stud ent immediately following his or her successful completion of the general curriculum, and before meeting the experience requirements of 14 CFR § 65.77, subject to the amended conditions and limitations listed below.

Conditions and Limitations

1. AIM must d ev elop written procedures for administering the AMG written test to AIM

s t udents immediately following successful completion of the general curriculum.

2. AIM must e nsure these procedures are available for use in AIM’s approved operating or curriculum procedu res document or manual.

3. Before retesting any student who has failed the AMG examination and also does not meet the experience requirements of § 65.77

, AIM must require the student to repeat
the instructional item(s) associated with the failed test and aut horize the student to

retake the test. A IM must have procedures for documenting and tracking compliance with all retesting procedures.

4. Before exercising the privileges of this exemption

, AIM must provide revised procedures to its C ertificate Holding Dist rict O ffice for review and approval.

AIM’s request for a n exemption from § 65.75(a), to enable AIM to administer the AMA and

the AMP written tests to a student after that student has complet ed the corresponding portion (s) of the curriculum, but prior to m eeting the experience requirements of 14 CFR § 65.77

, is denied.

Issued in Washington, D

. C

. , on August 7, 2015.

/s/

Michael P. Huerta

Administrator