FAA ADs re 5G interference - PPRuNe Forums

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Originally Posted by

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Apart from marking a major blow-up between US Federal government agencies and thereby providing a potentially entertaining “pass the popcorn” opportunity for those of us outside the USA, does this escalation in inter-agency hostilities have any collateral benefits for US airlines?

For example, can an airline now sue the FCC because it will be able to demonstrate an actual loss (e.g. “We can no longer schedule flights to XXX after dark or in bad weather”) whereas before they could only point out a potential detriment?

I'd like to say I anticipated this question - though I didn't. So I'll start at the end, and work back toward the start.

For an airline to file a lawsuit against the FCC, among the issues I'd want to hammer down is, to what extent is it realistic to anticipate that a federal district court (presumably where suit would be filed) would even have the competence to deal with the technical issues? While it is true that federal district courts do see litigation involving arcane and complex subject matters, these are subjects which get presented to the courts with some frequency, and do not present new technology just now entering service. (It's not perfect as a comparison, but consider what a hash Congress has made with regard to establishing regulatory frameworks for social media.) And in complex arcane matters before federal courts at present, I think most veteran litigators - and especially their clients - would concur with the assessment that the results of those cases leave a lot to be desired. It's one thing to get the statute of limitations analysis, where equitable tolling arguments are made, correct - quite another to resolve dueling expert witnesses with regard to proper statistical techniques for assessing results of Phase III clinical trial of a prostate cancer pharma product. So I would question whether the court, in perhaps a novel turn of a standard phrase, is a court of

jurisdiction.

Of course an airline might go ahead and sue as part of a political effort by airlines. Or for some notion of public relations points. On the other hand, what actual claims could be made -- abuse of discretion under the

deference-to-agency interpretation of statutory provisions? - I don't know. I mean, I don't know the answer already, plus I'm not planning on drilling into it (uh, absent an actual client, that is), plus there's more to respond to in your question.

So this is a "blow-up" between federal agencies?, "escalating inter-agency hostilities"? Well, it's really not. Because as you know the FAA is "housed" within the Department of Transportation, which is headed by a political appointee. The current Secretary's background for his appointment and confirmation by the Senate - apart from some slick presidential primary campaigning which of course is utterly meaningless - is that he was Mayor of a small city the apparatus of which is dominated by a major private university (Notre Dame). So in refusing to let cellular providers take control, the FAA has stepped into the breach. And it was able to do so, in major part, precisely because the Department in which FAA is situated is headed by a Secretary who really does not have much knowledge whatsoever about, you know, how things work (and don't work) up front, that so-called pointy end of the airplane. Just my view, not an official or verifiable opinion, of course.

But your post did more, for it reminded your loyal forum SLF/atty of how much I enjoyed popcorn during some several months when I held a volunteer gig (sort of) at Chicago O'Hare. And to return the favor, and since the first real blow-up was, of course, in 1966 and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and produced by Carlo Ponti - for your enjoyment of a non-U.S.A. film to accompany that popcorn: