Seeks Public Comments On NPRM On Broad FAA Powers To Revoke

The NTSB is seeking public comments on the standards its administrative law judges use in deciding whether to overturn emergency revocation of airman certificates by the FAA. Such revocations remove a certificate holder’s privileges immediately, even during an appeal. In non-emergency revocations, the holder may continue exercising the privileges of the certificate while appealing the revocation.

One subject on which the safety board seeks comment is the section under Part 821 of the regulations that states a judge weighing a request to reverse an emergency revocation "should assume that the acts and omissions alleged in the FAA’s emergency order are true." Outside organizations have asked to have that language removed, the NTSB said in an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking issued Wednesday, December 22.

The NTSB also seeks comment on the section of Part 821 that requires administrative law judges to ascertain whether the FAA’s action "was appropriate under the circumstances, given the potential threat to aviation safety," rather than deciding whether the FAA emergency determination "was rationally supportable under an abuse-of-discretion standard."

The NTSB acknowledged in the advanced notice that its standard, which dates to April 2003, represents "a substantive departure from the more stringent standard that had been generally accepted by the courts."

FMI: www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-12-22/html/2010-32056.htm