., “I am not sure where this sort of nonsense comes from”
Here’s one place we can start an FAA purpose discussion:
The FAA’s job is spelled out by congress in the “Pilot’s Bill of Rights”. It doesn’t say much about making regulation to advance aviation. The FAA can obviously create regulation. They just don’t, all their budget goes to legal.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-11475/pdf/COMPS-11475.pdf