AFS-16-1453-E

Exemption No. 17018

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

 

In the matter of the petition of 

 

Stewart Industries International Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2015-5513

Roswell, LLC 

for an exemption from § 145.103(b) 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

PARTIAL GRANT OF EXEMPTION

By letter dated October 7, 2015, Ms. Andrea Fitzsimmons, Director of Quality / Chief 

Inspector, Stewart Industries International Roswell, LLC (Stewart Industries), 605 E 

Challenger St., Roswell, NM 88203 on behalf of Stewart Industries International Roswell 

LLC (Stewart Industries) petitioned for an exemption from § 145.103(b) of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations (14 CFR) to the extent necessary to allow Stewart Industries to perform 

aircraft storage and related maintenance on transport category airplanes without providing 

suitable permanent housing to enclose the largest aircraft listed on its operations 

specifications 100 percent of the time. 

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 145.103 prescribes, in pertinent part, that (b), a certificated 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:

Stewart Industries states, that it chiefly performs storage for American Airlines and leasing 

companies. The maintenance functions performed in order to meet the storage requirements 

are not intended, nor required, to be accomplished in a hangar. Stewart Industries has hangar 

space and warehouse space for engines and other parts removed for storage prior to shipment. 

Stewart Industries further states its intent when placing an aircraft into storage configuration 

is to protect the aircraft from the elements, as it is stored outside, and the environment in 
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Roswell, NM, is ideal for outside storage of aircraft. Stewart Industries seeks this exemption 

from the housing requirement § 145.103(b) because it wishes to perform storage preparation 

work on Boeing Models 757 and 767 aircraft, and these aircraft will not fit within its own 

hangar. 

Stewart Industries notes that American Airlines is aware of Stewart Industries’ inability to fit 

the aircraft in its hangar, and American Airlines finds Stewart Industries’ maintenance 

practices acceptable and laudable. Stewart Industries also notes that it has an agreement with 

Dean Baldwin Painting, also located in Roswell, NM, to utilize its hangar space when the 

nature of the work requires that the aircraft be enclosed in housing to satisfy the requirements 

of § 145.103(b). However, the local Flight Safety District Office (FSDO) in Lubbock, TX,

rejected Stewart Industries’ use of this facility to meet the § 145.103(b) requirement, stating 

that because Stewart Industries would not have control of the hangar, the arrangement would 

not meet the intent of the regulation. Stewart Industries stated that if it did not receive the 

requested exemption and could not perform the above-described work on the Boeing Model 

757 and 767 aircraft, some of its operations would cease, and the impact on the local economy 

would be detrimental. 

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 petition would be detrimental to Stewart Industries.

The FAA's analysis is as follows:

Stewart Industries holds limited airframe and limited powerplant ratings with the limitations 

of performing maintenance, repairs, alterations, and inspections on airframes and 

powerplants. The company performs those functions on aircraft listed on its capability list. 

Some of the aircraft fit inside the company’s own hangar, and this is reflected in Stewart 

Industries’ Repair Station Manual―however, the Boeing Models 757 and 767 aircraft do not. 

The FAA regulations require that repair station facilities be suitable to protect aircraft 

assemblies and subassemblies through control of temperature, humidity, and other climatic 

conditions sufficient to ensure personnel perform maintenance, preventive maintenance, or 

alterations to the standards required by part 145. Stewart Industries has not provided evidence 

that the company is able to protect the aircraft during maintenance from weather elements 

such as heat, sand, moisture, snow, and wind at all times. Repair station personnel must also 

be protected from the elements so that neither physical efficiency nor the quality of work 

performed will be impaired. The FAA is flexible in situations where a petitioner has 

demonstrated that strict compliance with a regulation is unnecessary or unreasonable, and 

when an equivalent level of safety can be maintained. 

Every organization that petitions for an exemption from FAA regulations must demonstrate 

how a level of safety equivalent to that provided by the rule will be maintained under the

exemption. Stewart Industries has not demonstrated how it would achieve a level of safety 

equivalent to that provided by the rule requiring it to provide housing to enclose the entire 
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aircraft at any time work is being performed. Therefore, the FAA finds that a full grant of the 

requested exemption would not be in the public interest. However, the FAA is granting a 

partial exemption from § 145.103(b) to permit Stewart Industries to perform basic storage 

preparation work on the Boeing 757 and 767 transport category aircraft outside of the housing 

required by the regulation and in accordance with the additional conditions and limitations set 

forth below. 

The FAA’s Decision

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a partial grant of exemption is in the public 

interest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113,

and 44701, delegated to me by the Administrator, Stewart Industries International Roswell,

LLC, is granted a partial exemption from 14 CFR § 145.103(b) to the extent necessary to 

allow Stewart Industries to perform storage preparation work on Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft 

listed on its operations specifications or capability list in accordance with the limitations 

specified in those operations specifications, and subject to the conditions and limitations listed 

below.

Conditions and Limitations

1. When performing storage preparation work outside of housing, protection of the 

aircraft and maintenance personnel are required during inclement weather conditions. 

2. Stewart Industries may utilize another person’s hangar space to enclose the aircraft 

when the nature of the work requires the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft to be housed.

Partial grant of exemption from § 145.103(b) is granted. 

This exemption terminates on July 31, 2018, unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

Issued in Washington, DC, on July 1, 2016.

/s/

John Barbagallo

Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service