Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its Subcommittee on Aviation, expressed his disappointment at a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) study of airplane seat sizes as it relates to the emergency evacuations of passengers.
Congressman Cohen’s Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act that was included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2018 directed the FAA to establish minimum seat size and distance between rows of seats to meet the 90-second emergency airplane evacuation time currently mandated by federal regulations.
The FAA report released today based on the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) study indicates that existing seat sizes do not affect evacuation time. In an accompanying letter to Congressman Cohen, FAA Administrator Dickson acknowledges that the people involved in the evacuation study were all able-bodied adults under 60 and not representative of the flying public. See the report to Congress here.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
“I am disappointed but not surprised that the flawed study came to the foregone conclusion the airline industry dictated. I repeatedly called upon the FAA to reexamine its study parameters and take into consideration the time it takes for elderly travelers, children and people who have disabilities to safely evacuate aircraft. The flying public cannot rely on the results of this study nor should seat sizes be based solely on the study’s results. I look forward to participating in the FAA’s forthcoming public comment period and hope the input is taken seriously before the FAA makes its final determination on minimum seat dimensions that are necessary to ensure passenger safety.”
Original source can be found here.
