John Zimmerman recently posted a question on Air Facts to ask readers what they think is the worst FAA regulation. John began his post by noting that the most common complaint from pilots about the FAA is the lack of common sense when it comes to applying their regulations with the FAA view of flying and the job of a pilot being “completely divorced from reality.”
On the other hand, John did acknowledge that regulation is a necessary evil while US airlines are now enjoying the safest stretch of flying in history as there has been no fatal accident involving a major airline in a decade. Certainly the FAA deserves some credit for this.
John then asked readers what they thought were the worst FAA regulations with some of the responses including:
- 44709 which grants FAA inspectors carte blanche to reexamine any pilot at any time as they see fit without any due process.
- The prohibition to sport pilots to perform preventive maintenance on certified aircraft they own.
- The third class medical for private pilots.
Hence, we would like to ask our American readers: What do you think are the stupidest FAA rules or regulations? And for our Europe based readers: What are the dumbest EASA rules or regulations?