AFS-15-341-E

Exemption No. 11118A

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 § 65.75(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 § 65.75(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 

technician 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 greater detail below.
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Petitioner requested relief from the following regulation:

Section 65.75(a) requires, 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 request 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 student learning would be enhanced and 

reinforced by the immediate feedback provided by the testing experience, and that this 

immediate feedback, coupled with a sense of accomplishment, would encourage students to 

continue their studies and reduce dropout rates.

Petitioner stated that it currently has an established procedure for identifying and reporting any

graduate eligible to take FAA-mandated written, oral, and practical tests to Petitioner’s own 

on-site written test center and the Casselberry, FL, Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). 

Petitioner proposed 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 individual graduation certificate or certificate of completion until after the student 

successfully completed the entirety of the program in which the student enrolled (i.e., AMA or 

AMP). Petitioner stated that its petition did not differ materially from others on record, and 

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

Although AIM is correct that its initial petition for exemption does not differ materially from 

others on record, and that the FAA has previously granted exemptions to § 65.75, the 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.

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In light of this reevaluation, the 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 tests. 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 certificate. Under § 65.80, an AMTS may under some circumstances 

administer a student’s required oral and practical tests before the student satisfies the 

 

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

§ 65.77 before 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 

requirements, because 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 proposed to withhold a graduation certificate 

or certificate of completion until after the successful completion of the entire program in 

which the student was enrolled. Unfortunately, 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 

student’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 examinations and satisfied the § 65.77 experience requirements. The FAA has,

therefore, taken action to amend all such exemptions by issuing a Partial Grant of Exemption 

to all affected AMTSs.

The FAA does not have the same concerns regarding students who take the AMG examination

before satisfying § 65.77. A student 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). These conditions—requiring AIM to 

develop written testing procedures, include those 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

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

retest any 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 instructional unit 

associated with the failed test and authorize the student to retake the test. To be clear, any 

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 according 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 exemption. To maintain an equivalent level of 

safety, this exemption requires AIM to retrain these students itself, using FAA-approved 
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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—immediately 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 

petitioner 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 therefore 

entitled to submit a petition for reconsideration.

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

 A significant additional fact, and the reasons it was not presented in the original 

petition;

 That the FAA made an important 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 that “an Airframe and [/] or 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 respective 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 completes the § 65.77 experience 

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 contesting the 

validity of a condition and limitation, placed on its exemption, requiring AIM to retrain and 

authorize the retesting of certain AIM students who fail the AMG exam. AIM correctly 
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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 any qualified airman 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 program, 

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 certificate. 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 AMTSs. As a preliminary matter, we reemphasize that § 11.101 

limits a petitioner’s arguments in a petition for reconsideration 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; or 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 above, 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 as AIM’s.

The FAA’s Decision:

For the reasons described above, the 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 curricula. The FAA’s new or revised exemptions to § 65.75(a) will allow an 

AMTS to administer the AMG examination immediately after students complete the 

corresponding curriculum and prior to satisfying the experience 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 foregoing, 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 allows students to take the AMG examination immediately after 
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completing the corresponding 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. 

Pursuant 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 student 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 develop written procedures for administering the AMG written test to AIM 

students immediately following successful completion of the general curriculum. 

2. AIM must ensure these procedures are available for use in AIM’s approved operating 

or curriculum procedures 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 authorize the student to 

retake the test. AIM 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 Certificate Holding District Office for review and approval.

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

the AMP written tests to a student after that student has completed the corresponding 

portion(s) of the curriculum, but prior to meeting the experience requirements of 14 CFR 

§ 65.77, is denied.

Issued in Washington, D.C., on August 7, 2015.

/s/

Michael P. Huerta

Administrator