Hudson v. Federal Aviation Administration

The FAA (defendant), which certifies aircraft designs meeting safety standards, issued a 1998 guidance document updating its 1989 advisory circular on evacuation-demonstration requirements, recognizing that sufficient data and analysis methods had developed to sometimes substitute for actual evacuation demonstrations; the guidance still required actual demonstrations where sufficient data was unavailable, solicited public comment on the change, and indicated it might be further refined. Based on this guidance, the FAA determined Boeing had sufficient data showing the 777-300 met evacuation requirements without an actual demonstration and issued a type certificate. Paul Hudson and the Aviation Consumer Action Project (plaintiffs) petitioned for review, arguing the FAA failed to follow proper notice-and-comment rulemaking.