There is an air of uncertainty within the broad aviation industry over the ongoing transition to a new Presidential Administration. While the transfer of power is always a confusing time, the Trump team has made sweeping changes that will have an unknown effect on aviation - and general aviation in particular.
Giving the new administration some slack; this might not be a direct attack on aviation but more of a “pause and think” moment. Still, how they handle the review and get things moving again will ultimately show if this was a wise recalibration or just a messy ground stop. Either way, it’s shaping up to be quite the show. So buckle up, folks, how this ends should have some entertainment value. Bring the popcorn.
Who’s fault was it that MOSAIC didn’t get passed last month? It’s not just one person or group to blame. The FAA has been slow and cautious perhaps due to the complexity of the changes. Progress lagged under Obama, Trump, and Biden, with the process of gathering industry feedback dragging things out further. Internal FAA leadership challenges didn’t help things either. But now, it’s squarely on Trump’s administration to push it through. If it doesn’t pass during this term, the responsibility lies entirely with Trump!
Who’s responsible for MOSAIC not passing last month? It’s not just one person or administration at fault. The FAA has been deliberate and cautious (snailish) due to the complexity of the proposed changes. Progress has been slow across multiple administrations, with the process of gathering industry feedback adding to the delays. Internal FAA leadership challenges have also played a role. However, at this stage, it falls on the current administration to drive it forward. If it doesn’t pass during this term, the responsibility—and the gain or loss for the aviation community—will rest squarely with them.
Yes… I agree, it’s all Trump’s fault. Trump hates aviation. Aviation hates Trump. Trump hates Trump. It’s all a truism. That being said, Trump loves his airplane. He just hates everybody else’s. Trump hates AVweb too. Trump hates baby ducks.
I’m not holding my breath. The little voice in the back of my mind has always whispered “it will never happen”. Government runs, well, at the speed of government (unless it wants something FROM us).
Am I the only person who doesn’t see the big deal? A new administration is at the helm. They have no idea what agency will roll out what change/law/promulgation when and where while they are getting their bearings. The cabinet is yet to be confirmed, much less in place and actually up to speed, in contact with their agencies to be. ANYTHING that happens now will be laid at the new administrations feet, doesn’t matter if it was the current administrations idea or not. Nothing I’ve seen says they cannot work on the complexities of a new law such as MOSAIC, clear the backlog of paperwork in their inbox, or continue to do the myriad of things that are part of their job. They just cannot publish anything to the Federal Register. It also says that anything published recently but hasn’t gone into law is delayed until review. Considering I have things waiting on FAA approval from March of last year, I’d say the average government employee has 60 days of work to do without being caught up, much less without trying to publish new laws.
Maybe I’m wrong, but a 60 day pause on new public items just doesn’t seem to be a big deal. It seems prudent and I’d hazard to guess that previous administrations have done something similar, especially when the change was to a different political party such as it was this time.
The initial pause itself might not be a big deal. The concern is that this incoming administration campaigned on making a massive cut of regulations, but has never clearly articulated what the goal is. MOSAIC, for example, would be new regulation that updates existing regulation, but it’s not clear if this will be considered regulation that needs to be cut.
There has also been a push (and also featured prominently in this administration’s campaigning) to limit and curtail various agency’s authority for rulemaking, which could also potentially negatively impact things such as MOSAIC and FAA medical reform.
It’s a wait-and-see situation at the moment, but hopefully it won’t mean an end or extensive delay to much-needed aviation regulatory reform.
I think there is an opportunity to sell MOSAIC as a reduction of regulation. It does reduce requirements for many regulations on aircraft weights, pilot requirements and airframe requirements.
Hard to argue that the Biden administration’s MOSAIC plan constitutes a reduction in regulations when an entire new Part (14CFR Part 22) is added to cover Light Sport certification. Twenty new regulations, each a paragraph or two long.
Conceivably, the new administration could cut this down, but it probably would require a new NPRM cycle. Another year gone.
@gmbfly98 I think it’s a good thing to keep the pause on to allow the new administration to get its bearings. The recent FAA Medical Certification changes we are now dealing with, which will likely raise the cost of every physical due to the expenses required by the AMEs to meet them is a very pertinent point.
The changes were announced in early December, effective January 1, and a change in policy results in significant expenses to your AME, which eventually we will pay for, either in the loss of AMEs or in the cost of our Medical certificate.
The second major change upset more than half a century of practical and reasonable policy from continuing a deferral where more information is needed to an FAA denial until you can get what they want, grounding pilots who will eventually get the issuance for who knows how long. That policy change was caught and delayed as was another rushed through regarding A&P supervision of non-A&Ps.
Why did the FAA rush through these major changes to longstanding policy at the 11th hour? I think the 60 day pause is a welcome pause to insure that these types of policy changes aren’t pushed out the door without thoughtful deliberation.
President Trump ended the DEI hiring policy in the FAA, this might delay hiring but might also accelerate hiring of qualified applicants that graduated college with ATC degrees who were passed over under the DEI policy of the FAA
A pause in policy changes is pretty much standard with a change in administration. Obviously, new managers don’t want to take responsibility for policies generated (but not implemented) by the previous administration.
The concern here is if, as in his previous term, the President implements a requirement that all new regulations be accompanied by cancelling two others. Obviously, MOSAIC as it is currently proposed would be dead.
It might be possible to get an exemption from such a policy, based on the fact that MOSAIC reduces regulatory burden, requires less Government staffing, and saves money for those in aviation. Of course, if they do THAT, they’re admitting that a Biden-era policy proposal reduced regulatory burden, required less Government staffing, and would have saved money for those in aviation…
What usually takes it so long for a reasonable piece of legislation to make it into law is the sheer number of hands it has to pass through. Add the fact that nearly every congressional Sub-Committee for Checking Things has at least one congress-critter who needs to piss in the soup before he likes the flavor. Not to mention the irrelevant barnacles that accrete on a clean, well-crafted bill, simply because they lack enough merit to pass on their own. So it’s no wonder there’s a flurry of last-minute legislation when the CiC changes; the in-laws are coming and the place is a wreck.
Within the FAA, the bureaucratic smilax australis is nearly as bad, because the ramifications of omissions/mistakes can be life-or-death.
On the good side, this turgid process also slows down silly, stupid, self-aggrandizing, and short-sighted legislation as well. I’m far more concerned with the process of nominating and vetting the “hand on the stick” of the whole FAA bureaucracy. That person, in a sane universe, would be a pilot who has shed some skin in the game, especially in Medical matters. This hasn’t always been the case.
And for Hoover’s sake, a thousand hours in the right seat of a FoxNews cockpit doesn’t count for squat.
AVweb, with contributors like Russ Niles, Paul Bertorelli, Mark Phelps, and regulars like Larry S. and others, has kept us informed on the FAA’s slow crawl with MOSAIC. I’ve been watching its path since it was proposed by the EAA in 2013, and it’s exasperating to see what should’ve been common-sense, modern regulations drag on for 11 years and counting. Dang!!!
Wow, Tommy! For once we agree on something. To that I can add he hates anything that doesn’t agree with him or doesn’t make him money, or when he can’t appoint an unqualified bootlicker to run it.