AFS

- 14

- 509

- E Exemption No. 13530

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of

AVI ATION INSTITUTE OF Regulatory Docket No. FAA

- 2014

- 0738

MAINTENANCE for an exemption from § 65.75(a) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations

P ARTIAL GRANT OF EXEMPTION

By letter dated August 26, 2014 , Mr. Gerald Yagen, President, Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM, or Petitioner), 4455 South Boulevard, Virginia Beach, VA 23452 petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of AIM for an exemption from § 65.75(a) of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Reg ulations (14 CFR). The exemption, if granted, would allow students enrolled in AIM’s part 147 aviation maintenance technician school (AMTS) in Duluth

, GA , operating under Air Ag ency Certificate V18T077K , to take the Aviation Mechanic General (AMG), Aviation Mechanic Airframe (AMA), and Aviation Mechanic Powerplant (AMP) written tests after completing the corresponding portion of the curriculum, but prior to meeting the experience requirements of 14 CFR § 65.77. We grant in part and deny in part. Specifically, we grant AIM an exemption with respect to the AMG written test but deny the exemption with respect to the AMA and AMP written tests.

The petitioner requests relief from t he following regulation :

Section 65.75(a) requires, in pertinent part, that “ [ e ] ach applicant for a mechanic certificate or rating must, after meeting the applicable experience requirements of § 65.77 , pass a written test covering the construction and main tenance of aircraft appropriate to the rating he seeks, the regulations in [subpart D (Mechanics),] and the applicable provisions of parts 43 and 91.” (Emphasis added)

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The petitioner supports its request with the following information:

The p etitioner st ated that the public interest would be served by allowing an aviation maintenance technician student to take each FAA written test immediately following his or her completion of the related course material. The p etitioner stated that student learning

woul d be enhanced and reinforced by the immediate feedback provided by the testing experience, and that this immediate feedback, coupled with a sense of accomplishment, would encourage students to continue their studies and reduce dropout rates.

The p etition er stated that it currently has an established procedure for identifying and reporting any graduate eligible to take FAA

- mandated written, oral, and practical tests to

p etitioner’s own on

- site written test center and the Duluth Flight Standards District Of fice. The p etitioner proposed to use the same procedure to identify and report students who would qualify to take the written AMA or AMP tests. The p etitioner also proposed to withhold each student’s individual graduation certificate or certificate of com pletion until after the student successfully completed the entirety of the program in which the student enrolled (i.e., AMA or AMP).

The p etitioner stated that its petition did not differ materially from others on record, and noted

that the FAA had foun d those similar requests in the public interest.

Although AIM is correct that its initial petition for exemption does not differ materially from others on record, and that the FAA has previously granted exemptions to § 65.75, the FAA recently learned tha t these exemptions could inadvertently enable an individual to obtain his or her AMA or AMP certificate without satisfying the mechanic certificate eligibility requirements of § 65.77. 1 In light of this reevaluation, the FAA has undertaken to revise and

m ake consistent its exemptions to § 65.75(a).

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for waiving the requirement for Federal Register publication because the exemption, if granted, would not set a precedent, and any delay in acting on this petitio n would be de trimental to AIM

.

The FAA's analysis is as follows:

The FAA’s reevaluation of § 65.75(a) exemptions stemmed from our discovery of a loophole that could potentially have allowed students to totally circumvent our experience requirements. Stu dents must, among other things, take written, oral, and practical tests to

obtain a mechanic certificate. Section 65.80 allows an AMTS, under some circumstances, to administer a student’s required oral and practical tests before the student satisfies the experience requirements of § 65.77. Under § 65.75(a), however, all students must satisfy § 65.77 before taking any written tests. By granting AIM’s request to allow students to take

1 Section 65.77 requires each applicant for a mechanic certificate or rating to present evidence of at le ast 18 months, and in some cases at least 30 months, of practical experience.3

the AMA and AMP written tests before completing the experience requireme nts in § 65.77, we could inadvertently enable those students to totally circumvent our experience requirements, because a student could obtain a copy of his or her academic record indicating that the student has passed the AMA or AMP examinations, and prov ide that record to another

school

, without disclosing that the student never satisfied the appropriate experience requirements.

Perhaps to mitigate this very concern, AIM also proposed to withhold a graduation certificate or certificate of completion un til after the successful completion of the entire program in which the student was enrolled. Unfortunately, the proposed mitigation would not work because it would violate § 147.35(a), which requires each AMTS to “provide a transcript of the student’s gra des to each student who is graduated from that school or who leaves it before being graduated.

. . . The transcript must state the curriculum in which the student was enrolled, whether the student satisfactorily completed the curriculum, and the final gra des the student received.” (Emphasis added.) This regulation prohibits AIM from withholding a student’s certificate until graduation if the student left without graduating. Moreover, the presence of grades on a transcript could erroneously suggest that a student both completed the

AMA or AMP examinations and satisfied the § 65.77 experience requirements. The FAA has, therefore, taken action to amend all such exemptions by issuing a Partial Grant of Exemption

to all affected AMTSs.

The FAA does not have the same concerns regarding students who take the AMG examination before satisfying § 65.77. A student who successfully completes the AMG exam is not eligible to receive a mechanic certificate until after the student also completes the AMP or

AMA exams. There is, therefore, no risk that a student who completes the AMG exam prior to satisfying the § 65.77 experience requirements will circumvent our regulations.

In addition, certain conditions and limitations included in this partial grant are necessary to ensure an equivalent level of safety with § 65.75(a). The conditions

— requiring AIM to develop written testing procedures, include those procedures in its approved operating document or manual, and obtain of those procedures from its Certificate Holding D istrict

Office

— ensure that AIM’s educational program and curricula continue to meet FAA regulatory standards.

Another condition and limitation of this exemption requires that, before AIM may retest any

student who has failed the AMG test and who also do es not meet the experience requirements of § 65.77, AIM must retrain the student on the entire instructional unit associated with the failed test and authorize the student to retake the test. To be clear, any student who is eligible

to take the AMG test o n the basis of his or her own experience, who does not need to rely on this exemption, may retrain according to § 65.19

— including with any appropriately certificated airman. However, this exemption also creates a population of students who do not satisfy the § 65.77 experience requirements, and who are eligible to retake the AMG test only because of AIM’s exemption. To maintain an equivalent level of safety, this exemption requires AIM to retrain these students itself, using FAA

- approved curricula and in accordance4

with the FAA’s AMTS standards, including the quality of instruction standards codified in
§ 147.38a.

The FAA’s Decision

For the reasons described above, the FAA continues to withdraw or amend all previously granted exemptions to § 65.75(a) wh ich enabled an AMTS to administer the AMG, AMA, and AMP written tests immediately following a student’s successful completion of the corresponding curricula. The FAA’s new and revised exemptions to § 65.75(a) will allow an

AMTS to administer the AMG exami nation immediately after students complete the corresponding curriculum and prior to satisfying the experience requirements of § 65.77, but

will not allow AMTS to administer the AMA or AMP examinations before students satisfy § 65.77.

In consideration of the foregoing, we find in the present case that a partial grant of exemption is in the public interest. We therefore issue this partial grant of exemption, which allows AIM students to take the AMG examination immediately after completing the correspon ding curriculum, but does not allow students to take the AMA or AMP examinations before completing the corresponding curricula.

Pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113, and 44701, which the Administrator has delegated to me, I hereby grant Aviation Institute of Maintenance an exemption from § 65.75(a) to the extent necessary to allow AIM Duluth

, GA , under Air Agency Certificate V18TO77K , to administer the AMG written test to any student immediately following his or her successfu l completion of the general curriculum, and before meeting the experience requirements of 14 CFR § 65.77, subject to the conditions and

limitations listed below.

Conditions and Limitations

1. AIM must develop written procedures for administering the AMG writ ten test to AIM students immediately following successful completion of the general curriculum.

2. AIM must ensure these procedures are available for use in AIM’s approved operating or curriculum procedures document or manual.

3. Before retesting any student who has failed the AMG examination and also does not meet the experience requirements of § 65.77, AIM must retrain the student on the

entire instructional unit associated with the failed test and authorize the student to retake the test. AIM must have pro cedures for documenting and tracking compliance with all retesting procedures.

4. Before exercising the privileges of this exemption, AIM must provide the revised procedures to its Certificate Holding District Office for review and approval.5

AIM’s request f

or an exemption from § 65.75(a) to enable AIM to administer the AMA and the AMP written tests to a student after that student has completed the corresponding portion(s) of the curriculum, but prior to meeting the experience requirements of 14 CFR § 65.77, is denied.

Th is exemption terminates on November 30 , 2017 , unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

Issued in Washington, D.C., on November 3 , 2015

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/s/ John Barbagallo Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service

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