The FAA's mission has changed awhile back regarding "promoting aviation"

[N918KT]

It seems, that from time to time online, when some of the pilots and aviation enthusiasts complained about the decline of GA or over regulation from the FAA, they mentioned that the FAA's mission is to regulate and promote aviation. Now today, the FAA's mission changed to "provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world." Nowhere in the language did you see the words "promote aviation".

The fact is the FAA USED to have the language, "promote aviation" in their mission, but not anymore. I learned this in one of my aviation classes in college that they took that language out because of a certain accident (I cannot remember the specific accident though) where the FAA was in conflict with regulating and promoting aviation at the same time. So they took that language out of their mission.

So whenever there is discussion about the decline of GA or over-regulation from the FAA, keep in mind that they took the "promote aviation" language out from their mission.

 

[Jim Logajan]

The fact is the FAA USED to have the language, "promote aviation" in their mission, but not anymore. I learned this in one of my aviation classes in college that they took that language out because of a certain accident (I cannot remember the specific accident though) where the FAA was in conflict with regulating and promoting aviation at the same time. So they took that language out of their mission.

The accident you are trying to remember was, I believe, ValuJet flight 592, after which congress removed the dual mandate.

 

[Jim Logajan]

The accident you are trying to remember was, I believe, ValuJet flight 592, after which congress removed the dual mandate.

A few paragraphs from PBS web site:October 1996 A change in the FAA's mandate?

President Clinton signs the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 1996. Following public outcry over the ValuJet Flight 592 crash, lawmakers approve changes to the FAA's mission that appear to remove the agency's dual mandate of regulating safety and promoting industry development.

But a closer look at the bill tells a different story. "There's a footnote in that legislation before Congress," Schiavo explains. "The footnote says: 'Although we're changing the terminology from "promote" to "encourage," we do not intend to change the way we do business. This is a change for the public consumption, and we're not changing how we work at the FAA.' It was simply a sleight of hand."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/etc/cronfaa.html