I am taking "aviation law" and have to write a paper for the class.

I'm looking for relevant topics, but know nothing about this field.

Do you have any suggestions on topics/areas of research/controversial areas of aviation law?

Limitations:

Paper should be 12-15 pages double spaced (so, not that big)

CANNOT be about drones/UAV/UAS (profs got too many papers on this topic last semester, don't want to read anymore on drones).

Thanks.

I’ve been out of aviation so long now, lost my medical years ago, that I’m not sure about current topics, but here are a few.

1. FAA discipline procedures and outcomes for pilots with various violations, busting a TCA, or a clearance, gear up landing, filing a NASA report when, how, etc.

Here is an article on NASA reports https://www.aopa.org/news-and-...ut-of-jail-free-card

Actually, maybe you can peruse a couple years of AOPA magazines to pick up other issues that might be useful.

The other area that generates controversy sometimes is medicals. A pilot must have a current medical certificate, depending on license class, and sometimes pilots, medical examiners and FAA get into disputes about what is required, what is allowed. Bob Hoover, one of the greatest pilots ever, went through a decade or more of controversy over the pulling of his.

I bet current pilots will come up with some ideas I’m overlooking.

I took a couple of aviation law classes, which mostly focused on certificate actions and case studies. I highly recommend the book FAR’s Explained, for some detail into the thought process the feds apply when taking certificate actions.

What about some of the more recent happenings regarding the FAA and pilot groups versus local municipalities. SMO comes to mind, as well as HTO and their attempts at imposing curfews and civil penalties for noisy aircraft operators?

Visit www.aopa.org

Airport closures by local governments might be a good one. Many years back, Mayor Daly of Chicago bulldozed the runway at Miegs Field in the middle of the night in order to circumvent the FAA and pilots from holding up his plans to turn it into a park. He should have been indicted IMO.

Also local gov't actions to minimize noise when the airport was in place long before the development built up around it.

Good luck with it.

Probably takes a legal mind to give you a better direction- and that’s not me- but a couple thoughts-

Legal vs Safe- there are a lot of things in aviation that are legal but not safe, and many that are safe but not legal. The Kennedy plane crash has a lot of press so I’m not sure it’s a good topic but all reports were that the weather that night was legal VFR but not safe.

Medicals- good topic here- no reason to duplicate here.

Part 91 vs Part 135 aviation- owners fly part 91, charter aircraft fly part 135. The regulatory burden is significant between the two. Can google “134 and a half” operations- part 91 operations that are exploiting loopholes to avoid 135 regulations.

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
Visit www.aopa.org

Airport closures by local governments might be a good one. Many years back, Mayor Daly of Chicago bulldozed the runway at Miegs Field in the middle of the night in order to circumvent the FAA and pilots from holding up his plans to turn it into a park. He should have been indicted IMO.

Also local gov't actions to minimize noise when the airport was in place long before the development built up around it.

Good luck with it.

This is big. When airports take federal money, they have to agree to certain grant assurances, which restrict what they can do. Airports violate the grant assurances regularly. For example, prohibiting pilots from keeping tools or working on their airplanes in their hangars.

I'm sure V-Tail will be along, but his knowledge of the FAA regs is encyclopedic. He is very well versed on the concept of "the right way, the wrong way and the FAA way", and he knows when following the right procedure can keep you out of trouble with the FAA when technically you have screwed up. I.e., he knows the get out of jail free cards that are buried in the regs.

I will watch this with interest. Should be fun.

Another topic I haven't seen so far is drone law. It's an extremely relevant topic right now, and the regs are still very unsettled.

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
Another topic I haven't seen so far is drone law. It's an extremely relevant topic right now, and the regs are still very unsettled.

OP:

quote:

CANNOT be about drones/UAV/UAS (profs got too many papers on this topic last semester, don't want to read anymore on drones).

Yeah, the profs really came down hard on any possibility of writing on drones. I wanted to check into a conflict-of-laws issue with regard to regulation of drones over private lands and public-access lands (sometimes you go to a national park or state park and see "no flying drones," but the agency issuing the rule isn't the FAA, so is the rule valid and enforceable or just a bluff?). But no, writing on drones = automatic grade reduction.

The conflict between local gov'ts and airports (shutting them down) sounds interesting and doable.

BTW, in our ten-student class, there is one glider pilot (not sure what level of private license he has, but he can fly solo), one gen aviation licensed pilot, and one commercially licensed pilot who is also an investigator with the NTSB (been with the agency for 15 years, still employed by them).

Thanks for the suggestions, guys, if you have more, keep 'em comin.

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
Another topic I haven't seen so far is drone law. It's an extremely relevant topic right now, and the regs are still very unsettled.

OP:

quote:

CANNOT be about drones/UAV/UAS (profs got too many papers on this topic last semester, don't want to read anymore on drones).

Whoops. Usually I read before I open my mouth, I guess I didn't this time.

quote:

Originally posted by LDD:
Yeah, the profs really came down hard on any possibility of writing on drones. I wanted to check into a conflict-of-laws issue with regard to regulation of drones over private lands and public-access lands (sometimes you go to a national park or state park and see "no flying drones," but the agency issuing the rule isn't the FAA, so is the rule valid and enforceable or just a bluff?). But no, writing on drones = automatic grade reduction.

The conflict between local gov'ts and airports (shutting them down) sounds interesting and doable.

BTW, in our ten-student class, there is one glider pilot (not sure what level of private license he has, but he can fly solo), one gen aviation licensed pilot, and one commercially licensed pilot who is also an investigator with the NTSB (been with the agency for 15 years, still employed by them).

Thanks for the suggestions, guys, if you have more, keep 'em comin.

Undoubtedly the glider pilot is the smartest of the bunch. Just ask him.

We have a convoluted airport land use issue going on at our airport right now. FAA grants, parcels being peeled of by the county for non aviation use, fair market rents, back rents owed, little league moms, homeless camps. Probably enough for several new Jaguars for any attorneys that get involved. "As the Windsock Turns"....

Very active pilot, domestic and international, and I deal with regulation a lot. I can answer specifics, or direct you.

Thoughts that come to mind

De-icing requirements pilots desire for more deicing who clears the flight and how

And once cleared if you have to go back for delays how is this handled. Lots of $'s and liability here I would think.


Gate rent and costs when airline holds off gate for like 15 hours and passengers shit themselves

Passenger bill of rights or not

As mentioned, Chicago Meigs is a good case study. Daly took it into his own hands by cutting trenches through the runway at night.

Santa Monica, KSMO is another good one as it is happening now. That has been an ongoing battle for years and within the last month have just shortened the runway from 5000 ft. to 3500 ft. This basically stops most to all jet traffic. There is a lot of meat on the bone there if you want to write a paper.

in addition to the disciplinary issue, you could check into the catch-all charge 'careless and reckless' that is added to most pilots to ensure they get a certificate suspension or revocation

also airport closures and perhaps unfair price gouging at a few select airports as well as the ongoing fight with the Santa Monica airport and shortening the runway to prohibit certain kinds of aircraft and harassment of airport businesses

there are lots of things to write about but the FAA Administrative judge is seldom impartial in rulings - for what its worth

The space between seats and aisle width requirements is interesting. Probably not twelve pages worth of info but relevant with most flights having filled and oversold seats.

As a commercial aircraft mechanic, if I saw a pilot do a walk around then go grab some tools, I'd assist! or at least get the AMM reference for them.

After a crash between two of our member's aircraft (resulting in the total loss of both aircraft, and a couple of minor injuries, including a juvenile), a lawsuit was initiated by one of the crashed plane's pilot/member against both another pilot/witness that played a part in the crash as well as our incorporated organization. I was, reluctantly, interviewed by the plaintiff pilot's attorney as one of several witnesses. The issue of Pilot-In-Command (P.I.C.) came into play in this lawsuit. PIC might be an aspect to explore.

Similar to the Bob Hoover incident mentioned by JALLEN, one of my dear friends and flying mentors, a pilot with decades of flight experience in small aircraft also faced several groundings by the FAA for supposed medical reasons and the FAA put him through pure hell for several years late in life, as he had to go through ridiculous measures to regain and keep his medical certificate...finally agreeing to stop flying airshows for the last few years he held a license in order to just fly on a Private license. After going through the hassles for several years, late in his 80s, he finally donated his plane to the State Aviation Hall of Fame where it sits today. I understand the need to confirm a pilot's fitness to fly, but given the sometimes arbitrary means of determining a pilot's fitness I think the medical requirements issue might be worth researching.

I've known enough FAA inspectors to know that many of them are good hearted professionals that love aviation and just want to keep all involved safe...but I've also heard enough tales of FAA inspectors who, once they developed a grudge against a pilot, would throw enough "mud" and bureaucracy at them to try and force them to quit flying. Perhaps that is worth exploring.

Given the number of older a/c flying, the issue of aircraft manufacturer liability came to a head in the 90's, and tort reform came about, which positively impacted the aviation industry by stimulating mfrs. to design and manufacture new models. I'm not sure how relevant a topic it is today, somewhat certainly, but perhaps aircraft age and liability would be an interesting topic to do a paper on.

I've also known a couple aviation lawyers who were also pilots and a/c owners and they predominately worked in Washington D.C. on aviation legislation.

This may be too localized an issue, but of interest to at least some pilots Colorado is the only state in the U.S. to ban seaplanes from operating on public waters. At least one of the issues is that the State Parks and Wildlife authorities have had concerns about seaplanes landing on waterways that they hold jurisdiction over. There is a bill proposed in the current legislative session that would allow seaplanes to land on public waters in Colorado.

https://www.denverpost.com/201...aplanes-in-colorado/


http://www.fowlertribune.com/n...eaplanes-in-colorado

You might look at the impact of the regulatory requirement for airline applicants to have 1,500 hours and meet ATP standards, instead of the former 250 hour minimums. This has been a major shaping force in the regional airline industry, and is not without controversy. It has affected pilot demand and movement at many levels. It has driven up regional pilot demand, raised wages and incentives, and grounded flights. Has it improved safety, and is it subject to change?