Congressman Cohen Demands that the FAA Conduct Meaningful Testing of Aircraft Emergency Evacuations

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today called on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford to fully and accurately implement provisions of his Emergency Vacating of Aircraft Cabin (EVAC) Act. In the letter, Congressman Cohen urged the agency to “publicly disavow” a 2019-2020 aircraft evacuation study mandated by his earlier legislation, the SEAT Act, which relied on an unrepresentative sample of the flying public and has since been sharply discredited by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). 

The letter makes clear that the public deserves a true assessment of aircraft evacuations to determine whether they can meet the 90-second mandate. It references last Saturday’s evacuation of American Airlines Flight 3023 in Denver which reportedly took more than 10 minutes.

The letter reads in part:

“I write to urge the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to publicly disavow its 2019-2020 aircraft evacuation study, fully and transparently implement the Emergency Vacating of Aircraft Cabin (EVAC) Act provisions enacted in the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Bill, and initiate a new, scientifically rigorous and inclusive evacuation study that meets the law’s requirements and reflects real-world conditions.  

“The need for immediate action is underscored by the recent release of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) peer review of the FAA’s 2019–2020 aircraft evacuation study, which was required by a provision I authored in Section 337 of the 2018 Federal Aviation Administration Act of 2018. The findings of the NASEM peer review are both unequivocal and alarming and confirm the concerns I have raised since the study was first conducted. 

“The FAA’s study, led by the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI), sought to assess how seat width and pitch affect aircraft evacuation performance. As the NASEM peer review makes clear, the study failed to achieve this most basic purpose, both in its execution and in the representativeness of its sample. One panel member referred to it as the ‘worst study ever’ reviewed in their professional experience. Across more than 100 pages, the review catalogues a series of methodological, scientific, and procedural failures that render the study inadequate as a basis for any regulatory or certification decision… 

“NASEM confirmed what I have pointed out to your agency for years. The study was not representative of the flying public, and it proved to be completely inadequate to determine whether minimum seat size and distance between rows of seats should be established to meet the 90-second emergency airplane evacuation time currently mandated by federal regulations. 

“The urgency of these concerns was made evident by the recent emergency evacuation of American Airlines Flight 3023 at Denver International Airport, reportedly triggered by a landing gear fire. Video footage shows smoke pouring from the aircraft as passengers – some with carry-on bags, others carrying children – rushed down emergency slides. These are precisely the conditions absent from FAA’s 2019 testing, yet present in real-life emergencies. While not yet confirmed, the evacuation time from this incident was reportedly 10-15 minutes, which is well beyond the FAA’s 90-second requirement. If true, this is extremely concerning…

“Congress did not write the EVAC Act into law to produce symbolic improvements. We did so to ensure that every passenger, regardless of age, size, ability, or language. can evacuate safely and efficiently in an emergency. The NASEM report reaffirms that this goal remains unmet. The flying public deserves better, and the responsibility to deliver rests squarely with the FAA.”

See the entire letter attached.

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