AFS

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- E Exemption No. 10677

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of

SOUT HWEST 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 Co mpany (Southwest), petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of Southwest for an exempt ion 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 fro m its principle base of operations.

The petitioner requests relie f from the following regulation :

Section 121.139 prescribes, in pertinent part, that ex cept a s provided in paragraph (b) of this section, each certificate holder conducting supplemental oper ations 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 infor mation 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 the2

manual, it does not have to carry th ose 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 betw een 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 res ult 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 physical ly 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 electro nically. 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.3

The FAA’ s analysis is as follows:

The FAA has rev iewed 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 exem ption. 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 mai ntenance 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 i s commonly referred to

a s 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 w hen 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 o f 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.4

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. Dun can Deputy Director, Flight St andards Service