Congressman Cohen Questions Experts on Airline Safety

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today questioned expert witnesses at an Aviation Subcommittee hearing on “Accessible Air Travel: Addressing Challenges for Passengers with Disabilities.”

Congressman Cohen’s Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act, which required the Federal Aviation Administration to study airline seat size and distance between rows of seats in the context of the safe evacuation of planes, became law in 2018 and mandated a response from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) within a year. His questions to the witnesses focused on the FAA’s flawed study of airliner evacuation, released in March, which used only able-bodied people between 18 and 60 years old.

During his questioning, Congressman Cohen asked Heather Krause of the Government Accountability Office (GAO): “In your opinion, how can a study that neglected to account for factors like disability, specifically wheelchair use, be used to inform policies on cabin evacuations and minimum seat size?”

Congressman also expressed dissatisfaction about responses to his questions about safety from Graham Keithley, representing Airlines for America, an industry trade group, who deferred safety issues to the FAA. Congressman Cohen said:

“I submit to you we’ll get the answer to who killed Kennedy before you give us a true answer on seat size and width from the FAA.”

See his entire line of questioning here.

Witnesses at today’s hearing were:

• Congressman James R Langevin of Rhode Island;
• Heather Ansley, Associate Executive Director of Government Relations, Paralyzed Veterans of America;
• Brian Ryks, Executive Director and CEO, Metropolitan Airports Commission; on behalf of Airports Council International-North America;
• Matt Scott, Three-Time Paralympic Medalist, Team USA;
• Heather Krause, Director, Physical Infrastructure, Government Accountability Office;
• Graham Keithley, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Airlines for America

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