Part 7: Is That Carp I Smell?

There is a new FAA policy that has got me all riled up. Starting January 1st, 2025, the FAA intended to stop issuing Deferrals. Instead, they were going to simply fire off Denials.

This was, temporarily, halted by a consortium of Pilot Associations. Here is the letter that hit the pause button with the FAA:

According to the NBAA, the FAA responded to the letter. They postponed the policy change to March 1, 2025. In addition, they agreed to listen to community comments prior to its implementation.

Now, I have a lot of thoughts about this, most of which are not that nice. Let’s start with “No Public Notice.” I think we can all agree this is a major shift in governmental policy. But how does such a change occur without some broad announcement, publication, and public comment? A press release, perhaps? 

But, then, the FAA treated airline insiders equally ineptly.  As far as I can tell, the pilot unions and advocacy groups were not told of the FAA's intent to dump the whole deferral system. They learned, by happenstance, on December 4th -- less than a month before it was to be implemented.  And insiders were not briefed on that day.  Rather, they heard about it at a routine monthly meeting, which the FAA uses to educate the AMEs.  It was announced there, fait accompli.  This is just wrong. A huge massive policy change that will effect tens of thousand of pilots, just being dropped on a business-as-usual meeting, with no notice, with no discussion, and with an almost immediate rollout.  This is not how a public agency should behave.

As for the policy itself, I have just one comment. By Denying rather than Deferring, the FAA is trying to avoid owning or improving upon the Agency’s processing and bureaucratic delays. I have written extensively about this in prior blog entries – 2 to 4 year delays in processing Deferrals, FAA manpower shortages, horrendous inefficiencies. By not Deferring, they can avoid any accountability or transparency for the massive delays the Agency causes.

The message is clear. The FAA wants to do what it wants, on their timeline, with no public disclosure or accountability for their systematic and legendary problems. The timeline for the policy’s implementation is deplorable, the lack of public input is deplorable, and the lack of transparency is deplorable. Hell, the policy itself is deplorable. Let’s hope these issues get the proper attention they deserve before the FAA just shoves the policy through in another two months.

If I were to summarize, I’d say this: The FAA has a 12-inch putrifying 7-day old thing that used to be a carp that they want to ram down the throats of pilots, quickly, before anyone notices or smells the decay. Otherwise, they will need to explain and clean up their mess in Congress or with POTUS.

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As for the blog, here is what is coming up: I'll have another blog post prepared and it will be posted in just a couple days. I'll be returning to a reexamination of the Germanwings murder-suicide, from a medical perspective. Stay tuned!