UCAP Fodder

In a recent episode, the gang discussed a current FAA regulatory proposal in which the agency asks the public to submit suggested regulations it believes should be eliminated or amended. I noted this wasn't the first time the FAA had done something like this and took as a homework assignment the task of looking it up. As it turns out, I didn't have to look far: The 2007 FAA document delineates the agency's previous efforts.

Here's the poop (links where available):

• In response to a [1992] request for public comments designed to "weed out unnecessary and burdensome government regulations, which impose needless costs on consumers and substantially impede economic growth,"...the FAA received more than 300 comments.
• In January 1994, the FAA published a request for public comments.... [It] received more than 400 comments from 184 commenters.
• In August 1995, the FAA published its proposed plan for periodic regulatory reviews for comment.
• In May 1997, the FAA published its first request for comments under the three-year review program. The agency received 82 comments.
• In July 2000, the FAA began the second round of regulatory review under the three-year program. Some 476 comments were received and published.
• In February 2004, the FAA began its third round of regulatory reviews. It received 97 comments from 30 different commenters and
  published results of the review in June 2007.

The current regulatory review announcement is also available [PDF].

Don't misunderstand -- I'm not suggesting the FAA is always right; I'm just trying to close this loop and demonstrate this is not the first time the agency has asked the public to suggest outmoded rules.

Jeb

From the AP:

For the third year in a row, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has retained its title as the nation's busiest airport in terms of flights, according to preliminary government data released Wednesday.

The Atlanta airport logged 994,466 flights in 2007, up 1.8 percent from 976,447 flights in 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Flights include takeoffs and landings.

Its rival, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, was listed second busiest, with 935,000 flights in 2007. That number was down 2.4 percent from the 958,643 flights it had in 2006, the FAA said.

The FAA only released preliminary data for what typically are the nation's top three busiest airports — Atlanta, Chicago's O'Hare and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, said spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

Full story here.

I will not soon fly myself to either location.

Jeb