Congressman Cohen Demands Answers from FAA on Passenger Seat Safety in Commercial Airplanes

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Subcommittee on Aviation, today wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the results of mandated testing called for in the FAA Reauthorization Act's 2018 Cohen-authored Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act provisions. The testing to determine whether aircraft can be safely evacuated in the regulated minimum time permitted got under way after the bill's mandated deadline in 2019 and the results still remain unknown.

Congressman Cohen and Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) introduced the SEAT Act, which became law in 2018.

Congressman Cohen's letter to Administrator Stephen Dickson reads in part:

"The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 included a provision that I authored with Representative Adam Kinzinger to combat shrinking airline seats. This bill, the SEAT Act, directs the FAA to establish minimum seat size and distance between rows of seats on commercial aircraft to protect the safety of the flying public. Even though the FAA was congressionally mandated to act on this provision within one-year, the FAA did not begin its testing until late November and December 2019, well after the one-year deadline.

"In addition to requiring the FAA to review its aircraft cabin evacuation certification, the FAA Reauthorization Act also requires the FAA to report to Congress with results and any recommendations for revisions to the agency's assumptions and methods for assessing evacuation certification and to issue regulations establishing minimum dimensions for passenger seats necessary for the safety of passengers. I would hope that the FAA would take its congressional mandate seriously and not utilize dilatory tactics to prevent information from being published that could have significant impacts on the safety and health of airline passengers."

See the entire letter here.