AFS-12-240-E

Exemption No. 10677

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

 

In the matter of the petition of 

 

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

COMPANY Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2012-0113

 

for an exemption from § 121.139 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

DENIAL OF EXEMPTION

By petition dated January 28, 2012, Mr. Christian Toro, Chief Inspector/Director Quality 

Control, Southwest Airlines Company (Southwest), petitioned the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) on behalf of Southwest for an exemption from § 121.139 of Title 14, 

Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed exemption, if granted, would allow 

Southwest to operate its aircraft without carrying the appropriate parts of the maintenance 

manual aboard the airplane when it’s away from its principle base of operations.

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 121.139 prescribes, in pertinent part, that except as provided in paragraph (b) 

of this section, each certificate holder conducting supplemental operations shall carry 

appropriate parts of the manual on each airplane when away from the principal base of 

operations. The appropriate parts must be available for use by ground or flight 

personnel. If the certificate holder carries aboard an airplane all or any portion of the 

maintenance part of its manual in other than printed form, it must carry a compatible 

reading device that produces a legible image of the maintenance information and 

instructions or a system that is able to retrieve the maintenance information and 

instructions in the English language.

(b) If a certificate holder conducting supplemental operations is able to perform all 

scheduled maintenance at specified stations where it keeps maintenance parts of the 
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manual, it does not have to carry those parts of the manual aboard the aircraft en route 

to those stations.

The petitioner supports its request with the following information:

The petitioner states it keeps its manuals stored electronically via a web portal, such 

that the manuals are always current and accessible to all its personnel at every location 

at which it conducts scheduled, unscheduled, and supplemental operations. Currently 

the petitioner ensures that a mobile device with the downloaded appropriate parts of 

the manual is located on each aircraft. While this arrangement ensures compliance 

with §121.139, the updates to the mobile device must be manually uploaded at specific 

stations where there is that capability. This creates the unavoidable possibility that 

there may be a delay between an update to the manual and the time at which such 

update is uploaded to the mobile device. The petitioner believes that the accessing of 

information in only one form may be more compromising to the flying public in that it 

is not real time and may result in lengthy delays if there are difficulties in uploading 

the manual to the mobile device.

The petitioner believes that the focus should be on the availability and accessibility of 

the manual, not necessarily the requirement that the manual be physically located 

onboard the aircraft. The petitioner further states that the process is supported by 

policies and procedures that provide an alternative means by which any portion of 

required manuals may be obtained in the event the web portal is not accessible.

The petitioner further states it maintains robust and redundant data and communication 

systems, along with requisite processes and procedures that insure availability of the 

manual or appropriate parts of the manual. In the petitioner’s view the use of their web 

portal via the intranet completely eliminates the possibility of error of relying on 

outdated material while still meeting the Administrator’s requirement of having the 

information in the manual available at any location the aircraft goes. 

The petitioner states a grant of exemption to permit it to access its manuals via the web 

portal rather than carrying them onboard the aircraft, allows the public safety to be 

better protected from human error. 

The petitioner believes a grant of exemption is in the public interest because it will 

have the ability to decrease unnecessary maintenance and flight schedule delays 

without compromising safety by acquiring necessary data electronically. This 

operational impact benefits the flying public by replacing an antiquated system with a 

more accurate, timely, and viable solution.

 A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on October 9, 2012 

(77 FR 61469). No comments were received.
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The FAA’s analysis is as follows:

The FAA has reviewed the petitioner’s request and finds that a grant of exemption 

would not be in the public interest and would not provide an equivalent level of safety 

as that provided by the current regulations.

The FAA has previously denied similar requests for exemption. More recently, the 

FAA issued a legal interpretation on the same subject, dated March 17, 2011. The 

legal interpretation addressed the exception found in § 121.139(b), which requires 

policies and procedures so that the relevant portions of the maintenance manual can be 

obtained if, for some reason, the web portal is not accessible. Since this is a request 

for a grant of exemption to all of §121.139, the same requirement would apply to 

§ 121.139(a) which is presumed to include all or part of what is commonly referred to 

as a General Maintenance Manual or General Practices and Procedures and not the 

Aircraft Operating Manual.

The requirements are designed to ensure the technical data necessary to return an 

airplane to service are always available when an airplane is away from its principal 

base of operations. The petitioner’s proposal does not ensure the necessary data are 

reliably available. Despite the availability and reliability of conventional web access, 

the FAA finds the potential failure of the proposed alternative could prevent 

accessibility to the manual system. In fact, the petitioner acknowledges it could 

encounter “lengthy delays if there are difficulties in uploading the manual to the 

mobile device”.

Additionally, the petitioner has failed to show it is unique from the general class of 

regulated persons so as to justify relief through an exemption rather than through the 

general rulemaking process.

The FAA has considered the petitioner’s supporting information and finds that a grant

of exemption is not in the public interest because the petitioner has not demonstrated 

how its policies and procedures would provide an equivalent level of safety to carrying 

the “appropriate parts of the manual” as prescribed by § 121.139(a), or that the

petitioner is unique from the general class of regulated persons.
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The FAA’s Decision:

 In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption would not be in the 

public interest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 40113 

and 44701, delegated to me by the Administrator, the petition of Southwest Airlines Company 

for an exemption from 14 CFR § 121.139 is hereby denied. 

Issued in Washington, D.C., on December 26, 2012.

/s/

John S. Duncan

Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service