AFS-15-415-E

Exemption No. 11819

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

 

In the matter of the petition of 

 

NATIONAL AVIATION Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2010-1256

ACADEMY OF NEW ENGLAND

 

for an exemption from § 65.75(a) 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

PARTIAL GRANT OF EXEMPTION

By letter dated January 6, 2015, Mr. Alan Hayes, Director of Education, National Aviation 

Academy-New England (NAA-NE), 150 Hanscom Dr., Bedford MA 01730, petitioned the 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for an extension of exemption No. 10211, as 

amended, from § 65.75(a) of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). This

exemption extension would allow students enrolled in NAA-NE’s part 147 aviation 

maintenance technician school (AMTS) in Bedford, Massachusetts, operating under Air 

Agency Certificate EC6T068K, 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. Exemption No. 10211, as amended, expired on February 28, 

2015; therefore, we will treat your request for an extension as a petition for a new exemption. 

We also amend the conditions and limitations of your prior exemption, in accordance with our 

ongoing efforts to standardize § 65.75 exemptions, and as described in greater detail below.

The petitioner requests relief from the 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 maintenance of aircraft appropriate to the rating he seeks, 

the regulations in [subpart D (Mechanics),] and the applicable provisions of parts 43 and 91.”
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The petitioner supports its request with the following information:

The Petitioner states there has been no change in the conditions and reasons relative to public 

interest and safety that were the basis for granting the original exemption. The FAA has also 

determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition in the Federal 

Register because the relief granted herein would not set a precedent, and any delay in acting 

on this petition would be detrimental to NAA-NE.

The FAA's analysis is as follows:

Although the petition does not differ materially from others on record, the FAA recently 

reevaluated its past § 65.75(a) exemptions after determining that they could inadvertently 

enable an individual to obtain his or her AMA or AMP certificate without satisfying the 

mechanic certificate eligibility requirements of § 65.77. 

Any student seeking a mechanic certificate must, among other things, satisfy the experience 

requirements in § 65.77 and take written, oral, and practical tests. Under § 65.80, an AMTS 

may under some circumstances administer a student’s oral and practical test before the student 

satisfies the experience requirements. All students, however, must satisfy § 65.77 before 

taking any written tests. By granting NAA-NE’s request to allow students to also take the 

AMA and AMP written tests before completing the experience requirements in § 65.77, we 

could inadvertently enable those students to circumvent our eligibility requirements. More 

specifically, a student could obtain a copy of his or her academic record indicating that the 

student has passed the AMA or AMP examinations, and provide that record to another school 

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

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). These majority of these conditions—

requiring the petitioner to develop written testing procedures, include those procedures in its 

approved operating document or manual, and obtain approval of those procedures from its 

Certificate Holding District Office—will ensure that the school’s educational program and 

curricula continue to meet FAA regulatory standards. The other condition of this exemption 

requires that, before the petitioner may retest any student who has failed the AMG test and 
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who also does not meet the experience requirements of § 65.77, the petitioner must retrain the 

student on the instructional item(s) 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 on 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 the petitioner’s exemption. To 

maintain an equivalent level of safety, this exemption requires the petitioner to retrain these 

students itself, using FAA-approved curricula and in accordance with the FAA’s AMTS 

standards, including the quality of instruction standards codified in § 147.38a. 

The FAA’s Decision

The FAA is in the process of withdrawing or amending all previously granted exemptions to 

§ 65.75(a), which 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 or revised exemptions allow students to take the AMG examination immediately 

after completing the corresponding curriculum, but do not allow students to take the AMA or 

AMP examinations before completing the corresponding curricula. In consideration of the 

foregoing, I find in the present case that a partial grant of exemption is in the public interest. 

Pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113, and 44701, delegated to me 

by the Administrator, NAA-NE is granted an exemption from § 65.75(a) to the extent 

necessary to allow National Aviation Academy-New England in Bedford, MA, under Air 

Agency Certificate EC6T068K, to administer the AMG written test to any student 

immediately following his or her successful 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. National Aviation Academy-New England must develop written procedures for 

administering the AMG written test to National Aviation Academy-New England 

students immediately following successful completion of the general curriculum.

2. National Aviation Academy-New England must ensure these procedures are available 

for use in National Aviation Academy-New England’s approved operating or 

curriculum procedures document or manual.

3. Before retesting a student who has failed the AMG examination and also does not 

meet the experience requirements of 14 CFR § 65.77, National Aviation AcademyNew England must require the student to repeat the instructional item(s) associated 

with the failed test and receive authorization from National Aviation Academy-New 

England to retake the test. National Aviation Academy-New England must have 

procedures for documenting and tracking compliance with all retesting procedures.
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4. Before exercising the privileges of this exemption, National Aviation Academy-New 

England must provide revised procedures to its Certificate Holding District Office for 

review and approval.

National Aviation Academy-New England’s request for an exemption from § 65.75(a), to 

enable them 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. 

This exemption terminates on May 31, 2017, unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

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

/s/

John Barbagallo

Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service
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