AFS-11-267-E Exemption No. 10149A

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of

LIDER SIGNATURE S/A Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2009-0249

for an exemption from § 145.103(b)

of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations

GRANT OF EXEMPTION

By letter dated Decem ber 21, 2010, Ms. Cynthia C. E. de Oliveira, Maintenance Director, Lider Signature S/A (Lider), Rua Haroldo Paranhos, 400–Aeroporto de Congonhas, Sao Paulo, Brazil 04357-060, petitioned the Federal Av iation Administration (FAA) on behalf of Lider to reconsider its request for an exemption from § 145.103(b) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), pursuant to § 11.101. Section 11.101 requires a showing of either: (a) A significant additional fact and the reason why it was not presented in the original petition; (b) That the FAA made an important factual error in its denial of the original petition; or (c) That the FAA did not correctly interpret a law, regulation, or precedent. The proposed exemption, if granted, would exempt Lider from having to provide an enclosed hangar by installing doors on its hangars in the facilities at Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo, Brazil, to enclose the largest type and model of aircraft listed on its operations specifications.

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulations:

Section 145.103(b) prescribes that “[a] certifi cated repair station with an airframe rating must provide suitable permanent housing to enclose the largest type and model of aircraft listed on its operations specifications.”

The petitioner supports its request with the following information:

The petitioner states it has performed maintenance at its repair station on N-registered2 fixed-wing aircraft since 1979 at its Sao Paul o Airport-Congonhas facility and at its satellite repair station at Belo Horizonte Airport-Pa mpulha since 1998. Each repair station has suitable permanent housing but lacks front doors in the hangars since they were built 40 years ago.

Lider states that a grant of exemption would not negatively affect safety because Brazil’s tropical climate has allowed Lider to perform maintenance in these hangars without affecting the quality of work performed. Both hangars have camera-monitored internal security systems, are patrolled by security personnel 24/7, and are completely covered by insurance. Also, the hangars are considerably larger than the largest aircraft for which Lider is rated by the FAA so aircraft could be placed far within, and away from, the hangar’s entrance. For example, the largest airplanes listed on Lider’s operations specifications are 15.59 meters and 16.80 meters in length and its two hangars are 50.7 meters and 61.5 meters in length, respectively. The climatic conditions in Brazil where these hangars are located are such that Lider has performed aircraft maintenance for 40 years with no ill effects from

environmental conditions.

Lider states that it has explored options, including consultations with national and international suppliers, to further enclose its hangars. Suppliers in Brazil do not offer a product suitable for Lider’s hangar types, and international suppliers do not offer an alternative that is economically or logistically feasible. Lider states that granting this exemption would be in the public interest because it would allow Lider to continue operations under part 145 as a repair station and provide service to the public, especially for N-registered aircraft flying through Brazil. Lider is the only authorized Hawker Beechcraft service center in Brazil with high quality support for Hawker Beechcraft customers that fly over South America. Further, its main repair station is conveniently located at the Sao Paulo International Airport, an airport responsible for the majority of domestic and executive flight operations in Brazil.

A summary of the petition previously published in the Federal Register on July 9, 2009 (74 FR 33015). No comments were received.

The FAA’s analysis is as follows:

The FAA has reconsidered Lider’s request for exemption from § 145.103(b). Although Lider’s petition for reconsideration filed on December 21, 2010, did not meet the 60-day filing requirement set forth in § 11.101, based on the FAA’s reevaluation of the facts and circumstances pertaining to Lider’s use of its hangars, the agency is treating Lider’s request as a new petition for exemption. It appears that the FAA made factual errors and improperly interpreted previous denials of petitions for exemption from the housing requirements with respect to Lider’s request. Specifically, the FAA referenced the environmental conditions of “heat, dirt, and dust” in Denial of Exemption No. 10149 that were applicable in other denials issued by the agency but that are not applicable to Lider’s circumstances. Upon further review, the FAA finds that granting Lider’s petition would be in the public interest and would provide a level of safety equivalent to that provided by the regulation.3

We have carefully reviewed the statements submitted in the original petition submitted on March 11, 2009, and the additional information submitted on May 21 and December 21, 2010, in support of Lider’s request for relief from the requirements of § 145.103(b). Lider has performed maintenance atits repair station on N-registered fixedwing aircraft since 1979 and at its satellite repair station since 1998. As stated in Lider’s petition, each repair station has suitable permanent housing, but the hangars, built 40 years ago, lack front doors.

Over the years, the FAA has both granted and denied housing exemption requests to repair stations. A common theme in the requests that were denied involved aircraft that would not completely fit in the hangars (but with temporary work docks proposed for the exposed portions), or that would be outside of any housing for the work being proposed. The denials were premised on the requestors’ lack of capability to protect the work that would be performed. Some of the repair stations were in Arizona, and the FAA’s denials cited the adverse weather conditions in the area, specifically wind, sun, and dust storms. In other situations, the FAA has granted similar requests where the aircraft would not fit entirely in a hangar. Those grants were premised on the repair stations’ being located in a more favorable climate and the FAA’s assessments that the work being proposed would be adequately protected from whatever adverse environmental conditions were likely to be encountered. None of those requests involved the issue of whether doors were installed on the hangars.

In denying Lider’s original exemption request on September 30, 2010, the FAA concluded that Lider did not address how aircraft in a door-less hangar would be protected from elements such as heat, dirt, and dust. While this reasoning may have been sound inevaluating petitions from repair stations located in Arizona that would be subject to duststorms, we recognize that it does not apply to the locations of Lider’s hangars. In view of the tropical climate in Brazil, the best way to prot ect workers from heat (absent air conditioning) would be to leave hangar doors (if they were installed) open. Further, Lider’s hangars are not subject to dust storms. As Lider observed, Brazil’s climatic conditions (including tropical thunderstorms) during the past 40 years have not presented adverse environmental working conditions when the work is performed well inside its hangars.

Lider has shown that a grant of this exemption would not adversely affect safety because, when necessary, Lider would position the airplanes being worked on well inside its hangars to protect them from whatever adverse weather conditions might be presented. Therefore, to the extent that the requirement in § 145.103(b) to provide “suitable permanent housing to enclose the largest type and model of aircraft . . .” would be interpreted to mean the housing would have to have doors, no matter the size of the housing, the FAA has determined that a grant of this exemption request would provide a level of safety at least equal to that provided by the regulation. Moreover, the FAA recognizes Lider’s unique circumstance of being the only authorized Hawker Beechcraft service center in Brazil and notes that the two airports where Lider’s hangars are located handle the majority of domestic and executive flight operations in Brazil. In view of these circumstances and the equivalent4 level of safety finding noted above, the FAA finds that a grant of this exemption would be in the public interest.

The FAA’s Decision:

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exem ption 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, Lider Signature S/A is granted an exemption from 14 CFR § 145.103(b) to the extent necessary to exempt Lider from having to provide an enclosed hangar by installing doors on its hangars in the facilities at Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo, Brazil, to enclose the largest type and model of aircraft listed on its operations specifications, subject to the conditions and limitations listed below.

Conditions and Limitations:

1. Lider m ust cease maintenance activities at any time when and if there is a change in environmental conditions where lack of hangar doors would adversely affect the ability to protect aircraft parts, assemblies, and subassemblies during disassembly, as well as any cleaning, inspection, repair, alteration, or assembly as applicable to its ratings.

2. Repair station workers must be protected so the quality of the work performed will not be impaired.

This exemption terminates July 31, 2013, unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

Issued in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2011.

/s/

David Gilliom Acting Director, Flight Standards

Service