AFS-12-516-E October 12, 2012 Exemption No. 10640 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2012-0915

Mr. David L. Jones Corporate Aviation Education Director

Aviation Institute of Maintenance

4455 South Boulevard Virginia Beach, VA 23452

Dear Mr. Jones:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your request for exemption. It transmits our decision, explains its basis, and gives you the conditions and limitations of the exemption, including the date it ends.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated August 22, 2012, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of Technical Educational Services Inc., d.b.a. Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM) for an exemption from § 65.75(a) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) to the extent necessary to allow AIM to administer the aviation mechanic general written test to students immediately following their successful completion of the general curriculum but before they meet the experience requirements of § 65.77.

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 AIM.

The FAA has issued grants of exemption in circumstances similar in all material respects to those presented in your petition. In Partial Grant of Exemption No. 7926 (copy enclosed), the FAA noted that § 65.80 allows students to take equivalency tests for the aviation maintenance airframe and aviation maintenance powerplant. In Grant of Exemption No. 7926, copy enclosed, the FAA agreed with the petitioner that testing immediately after learning is a universally accepted instructional principal that reinforces learning and that such testing is academically sound. Therefore, the FAA allowed the petitioner to test students immediately2

after they successfully complete the general cu rriculum but before they meet the experience requirements of § 65.77.

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

 they are similar in all material respects to relief previously requested in the enclosed Grant of Exemption No. 7926;

 the reasons stated by the FAA for granting the enclosed Grant of Exemption No. 7926 also apply to the situation you present; and

 for the reasons stated in Grant of Exemption No. 7926, a grant of exemption is 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 grant Aviation Institute of Maintenance (Air Agency Certificate 1QAT602K), an exemption from 14 CFR § 65.75(a). This exemption would allow AIM to administer the aviation mechanic general (AMG) written test to students immediately following their successful completion of the general curriculum but before they meet the experience requirements of § 65.77, subject to the conditions and limitations

described below.

Conditions and Limitations

1. Before exercising the privileges of this exemption, AIM must provide its operations manual to its certificate holding district office and receive approval.

2. AIM’s operations manual must contain the manner in which oral and practical tests are to be administered, and the times and places at which AIM intends to administer tests under this exemption.

3. AIM’s operations manual must contain procedures for retesting after failure of the oral or practical test for an instructional unit.

4. Before retesting after failure, AIM must require a student to repeat the entire

instructional unit associated with the failed test and receive authorization from AIM to

retake the test.3

5. AIM’s operations manual must contain procedures for documenting and tracking compliance with all retesting procedures.

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

Sincerely,

/s/ Raymond Towles Acting Director, Flight Standards

Service

Enclosure