AIR-10-175-E 

November 30, 2010 

 Exemption No. 10170 

 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2010-0200 

Mr. Cliff Herring 

712 E Roseboro Street 

P.O. Box 94 

Roseboro, NC 28385 

Dear Mr. Herring: 

This letter is to inform you that we have denied your petition for exemption. It transmits our 

decision and explains its basis. 

The Basis for Our Decision 

By letter dated February 24, 2010, and March 17, 2010, you petitioned the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) for an exemption from § 21.191(i)(1) of Title 14, Code of Federal 

Regulations (14 CFR) to the extent necessary to allow you to have your Buckeye Powered 

parachute (N7003J) airworthiness certificate amended to remove the training exemption and 

convert the expiration date to unlimited expiry. 

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition 

in the Federal Register because the requested exemption would not set a precedent, and any 

delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to you. 

The FAA recently issued a denial of exemption in circumstances similar in all material 

respects to those presented in your petition. In Denial of Exemption No. 10071 (copy 

enclosed), the FAA found that a grant of exemption would not be in the public interest, and 

the petitioner has not shown how an exemption would not adversely affect safety. 

The final rule, Certification of Aircraft and Airmen for the Operation of Light-Sport Aircraft,

which added § 21.191(i)(1), established a deadline for the issuance of experimental 

certificates to operate a light-sport aircraft (Docket No. FAA-2001-11133, 69 FR 44772, July 
2 

27, 2004). The rule states that the FAA will not issue an experimental certificate under § 

21.191(i)(1) after January 31, 2008. 

You indicate in your petition that you recently became aware that the airworthiness certificate 

for your aircraft had an expiration date of January 31, 2010. Section 21.191(i)(1) applies only 

to those aircraft that have never been issued a U.S. or foreign airworthiness certificate. Until 

the expiration of that airworthiness certificate, an applicant could have applied to change the 

expiration date at any time under the provisions of § 21.177. If the applicant allowed the 

airworthiness certificate to expire without taking action to extend its life, that airworthiness 

certificate is now void. The FAA no longer grants experimental certificates for light-sport 

aircraft under § 21.191(i)(1). 

The intent of § 21.191(i)(1) was to allow an adequate number of aircraft and instructors to 

conduct light–sport pilot training for the “transitioning” community. In this petition for 

exemption, you state your aircraft is not being used as a training parachute. 

Having reviewed your reasons for requesting an exemption, I find that— 

 they don’t differ materially from those presented by the petitioner in the enclosed denial 

of exemption; 

 the reasons stated by the FAA for denying the enclosed exemption also apply to the 

situation you present; and 

 a grant of exemption wouldn’t be in the public interest. 

Our Decision 

Under the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. 40113 and 44701, which the FAA Administrator 

has delegated to me, I hereby deny your petition for an exemption from 14 CFR 21.191(i)(1). 

Sincerely, 

/s/ 

Kalene C. Yanamura 

Acting Director, Aircraft Certification Services 

Enclosure