Exemption No. 10481 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

WASHINGTON, DC 20591 

 

In the matter of the petition of 

 

PENNSYLVANIA STATE Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2011-0125

POLICE 

for an exemption from § 43.3 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

 

GRANT OF EXEMPTION 

 By letters dated February 9 and May 31, 2011, Sgt. Matt Tarczynski, Supervisor, Aviation 

Maintenance Section, Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), Aviation Patrol Unit 3, 575 Airport 

Drive, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania 17070, petitioned the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) on behalf of PSP for an exemption from § 43.3(a) of Title 14, Code of 

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

trained PSP pilots to remove and reinstall the Gyrocam camera on its PSP Cessna 206H 

airplane (N193P), ensure the appropriate aircraft weight and balance data is documented in 

the document folder, and perform operational check of the system, in the absence of a FAA 

licensed technician. 

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 43.3 prescribes in pertinent part, that except as provided in this section and 

§ 43.17, no person other than the holder of a mechanic or repair station certificate may 

maintain, rebuild, alter, or perform preventive maintenance on an aircraft, airframe, 

aircraft engine, propeller, appliance, or component part to which this part applies. 

Those items, the performance of which is a major alteration, a major repair, or 

preventive maintenance, are listed in Appendix A. 

AFS-11-173-E 
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The petitioner supports its request with the following information: 

The petitioner states Aero Avionics, Inc., Sanford, NC, installed the Gyrocam camera 

under supplemental type certificate ST03677AT. The petitioner states the installation 

design includes features to facilitate removal of the Gyrocam camera without the need 

of tools or requiring any complex operation and is a simple operation for a trained 

person to accomplish. 

In its petition, the petitioner illustrated how the Gyrocam camera is secured to a fixed 

dovetail mount attached to the airframe and held in place using two thumb screws with 

a fail-safe interlocking safety pin. Associated electrical connections are provided by a 

cable assembly and two cannon plugs. Aircraft weight and balance data is available for 

both camera installed and camera removed configurations. 

The petitioner stated that without the relief sought, the removal or reinstallation of the 

Gyrocam camera requires coordination with local certificated aircraft mechanics prior 

to its missions. The petitioner stated the response to critical and impromptu missions is 

therefor dependent on the availability of certificated maintenance personnel. The 

petitioner further states that allowing PSP pilots to remove or install the camera absent 

of a FAA licensed mechanic reduces incident response time by eliminating the time 

required to contact off-duty maintenance personnel and their respective travel time to 

the airport. The petitioner believes that prompt aerial support becomes a force 

multiplier for ground units by adding an additional level of safety to both state police 

ground units and to the public. 

The petitioner states the pilots performing the removal and reinstallation shall be 

trained using only the methods prescribed by the manufacturer Gyrocam, to assure 

correct completion of the work. The pilots will document this action with a logbook 

entry. They will also perform operational checks and will predetermine and record 

weight and balance data for either configuration. 

The petitioner states that it supports law enforcement, public safety and homeland 

security missions. 

The petitioner believes that if the FAA grants the request, the public will benefit from 

more timely and efficient availability of PSP aviation service. 

 A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2011 

(76 FR 51119). No comments were received. 

The FAA’s analysis is as follows:

The FAA, in the past, has granted partial exemptions to 14 CFR § 43.3 where an equivelent 

level of safety to that provided by the regulation will exist. It has been demonstrated that the 

public does benefit from permitting a trained pilot to perform the relatively simple 
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maintenance task of removing or installing the Gyrocam camera and associated electrical 

connections on aircraft similarly modified. The FAA finds that, subject to the conditions and 

limitations set forth in this exemption are followed, a grant of exemption, limited to the pilots 

of the PSP, may now be granted. 

The FAA’s Decision: 

 In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption is 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 Pennsylvania State Police are granted an exemption from 

14 CFR § 43.3(a) to the extent necessary to allow PSP pilots to remove and reinstall the 

Gyrocam camera in the absence of a FAA licensed mechanic, subject to the conditions and 

limitations listed below. 

Conditions and Limitations: 

1. PSP will maintain a roster of pilots qualified to remove and reinstall the 

Gyrocam. 

2. PSP will provide initial and annual recurrent training in this task by a properly 

certificated airframe mechanic, to qualified pilots and maintain appropriate 

records. 

3. A copy of the associated training program will be provided to the local Flight 

Standards District Office for review and acceptance. 

4. Each pilot removing or installing the Gyrocam shall record that work in 

accordance with § 43.9 and ensure the appropriate weight and balance is utilized. 

This exemption terminates on March 31, 2014, unless sooner superseded or rescinded. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2012. 

/s/ 

Raymond Towles 

Acting Director, Flight Standards 

 Service