Fatal Flaw

The Federal Aviation Administration's regulatory system is burdened with complaints, subject to long delays, and caught between efficiency and safety. Reforming the system has proved to be an inexact science with only limited success.

The FAA develops regulations for promoting the safe, secure and efficient use of aircraft. Rules can be initiated by the agency and at the request of Congress and the National Transportation Safety Board. The process consists of two key phases. The first is the proposed rule phase, which begins with a decision to make a rule and ends with the publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register. Typically, the public comment period lasts from 60 to 90 days. The second, or final rule phase, begins when the comment period ends and concludes with the publication of a final rule in the Federal Register, sometimes years later.

FAA rule-makers must balance opposing pressures. "On the one hand, rule-making is time-consuming and complex, requiring careful consideration of the proposed rules' impact on individuals, industries, the economy and the environment. On the other hand, threats to public safety and the rapid pace of technological development in the aviation industry demand timely action," said Gerald Dillingham, the General Accounting Office's director of physical infrastructure issues, at a July hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee.

The FAA's regulatory system has thwarted many attempts at reform. Most recently, in 1998, the agency established management committees to prioritize rules and improve oversight of the rule-making process. That year, the FAA also created guidelines that set timeframes for various steps in the process and built an information technology system to consolidate numerous systems used in crafting rules. GAO contends those reforms have further bogged down the process. Dillingham told lawmakers that before reforms were in place, the process took about 30 months; since the reforms, rule-making has taken 38 months. The agency has published only 11 final rules in the three years since the reforms, compared with 18 in the three years before.

Margaret Gilligan, deputy associate administrator for regulation and certification, says the FAA is taking steps to publicly prioritize its top 30 to 40 proposed rules. But the regulatory process is like making a law; it requires hearings, consideration and deliberation before rules can take effect, she says. "Congress made the statute that creates this process and then complains about how long it takes," Gilligan says.