FAA exemptions allow deviations from standard regulatory requirements.  To search for exemptions: 

1. Select Exemptions & Deviations from the Browse menu.
2. Enter a search term such as:
   • Exemption number
   • Regulation part number (e.g. "14 CFR 121")
   • Company Name
3. Use Filters to refine results by:
   • Date of issuance
   • Type of exemption (temporary, permanent, conditional)
4. Click on an exemption to view conditions and approval details.

Exemptions can be filtered by the following criteria:

• Exemption Number: The number assigned to an exemption.
• Regulation Reference: The regulations associated with an exemption.
• Company Name: The petitioning company of an exemption.
• Disposition: The decision issued in an exemption.
• Expiration Date: The date an exemption terminates.
• Effective Date: The date an exemption takes effect.
• Docket Number: The docket number associated with an exemption.
• Office of Primary Responsibility: The FAA office responsible for the associated regulations and operations of an exemption.
• Petitioner Name: The company contact or individual petitioning for exemption.
• Equipment: The aircraft used in an exemption.
• Petition Date: The date the petition was received by the Docket.

Each filter has a search box and drop-down list that contains all existing values for each filter. If the text searched does not populate within the drop-down list, then there is not an exemption associated with that value.

The Browse feature in DRS works like an ‘exact match’ search. For example, if there are Exemptions related to 91.315 (a) and 91.315 (b) and you want to bring back results associated with both of these Regulation references, you will need to select both 91.315(a) and 91.315(b) in the drop-down filter for Regulation Reference. You cannot select 91.315(a) and expect everything that is associated with 91.315 to show up in the Browse results.

If you are interested in just typing “91.315” and finding all Exemptions that are associated with any subpart or paragraph of Part/Section 91.315, you will need to use the Search feature of DRS for this, which is described below in the section “Looking for Exemptions using the Search feature of DRS”.

Filters can be applied in any combination. This includes making multiple selections within each individual filter and filtering Exemptions by multiple filters.

*Keep in mind: As you narrow results in one filter, it will also narrow the values available in the other filters.

Using Keyword Search will generate results of any Exemptions containing the text searched.

Select Apply to see the filtered results and Reset to remove all selected filters.

You can sort the results by Exemption Number, Disposition, Expiration Date, Effective Date, or Docket Number.

When the Browse results are initially loaded, the default sort is by the Expiration Date.

You can download the data from the list to an Excel spreadsheet by clicking Save Results List. The spreadsheet provides links to the Exemption documents.

To view an exemption, click the hyperlinked Exemption Number beside the PDF icon, which opens the Document Viewer to show the content of the document.

• The content of the Exemption document shows on the right-hand side of the Document Viewer
• You can view the metadata details for the Exemptions on the left-hand side
• You can Copy the document URL
• If you see an error in an exemption, you can submit feedback on that specific exemption using Feedback link
• You can also perform document text search in the search section

DRS has Basic Search on the homepage where one or more Search terms can be entered. There is a Search Tips document provided on the Basic Search page that provides information on how to search using the Basic Search functionality.

DRS also has an Advanced Search functionality that can be used, which provides additional filters and capabilities.

Additional Tips

• In the Advanced Search page, there are multiple ways to look for documents – “Any of these words”, “All of these words”, “None of these words”.
• You can look for the search term in a specific area using the “Search In” filter – to look only in the document content, in the Document Number field, in the Document Tile/Subject field, Regulation field, or Office of Primary Responsibility field.
• The Document Type filter lets you narrow down your results to Exemptions only.
• Once you conduct a search and retrieve results, you can narrow down the results further by using the “Filter Results” fields available.