The Federal Aviation Administration, commonly known as the FAA, is the government agency tasked with regulating civil aviation in the United States. One of the FAA’s more prominent functions is to regulate the safety of the airline industry, which it does by creating and enforcing rules that govern the manufacture and operation of commercial aircraft. However, the FAA is also charged with a number of other responsibilities, including a mandate to promote civil aviation. Many of the FAA’s critics have argued that this role is directly incompatible with the agency’s primary duty to regulate safety and have called on Congress to redefine the FAA’s mission to exclude the duty to promote civil aviation from the agency’s list of responsibilities.

The critics’ concern is that the safety of the airline industry cannot be adequately regulated by the same agency that is supposed to promote the industry as a whole. According to the critics, if a safety issue were to arise, the FAA would have to weigh the potential harm that the airline industry would suffer due to increased regulation against the benefits of remedying the safety concern, which might lead to inaction by the FAA. For example, several leading safety advocates have recommended that the FAA prohibit the practice of allowing infants under two years old to fly as “lap children” and instead require a separate seat for all passengers regardless of age. Because many parents would opt out of flying if they were required to purchase separate tickets for their young children, the advocates’ recommendation would, if adopted, lead to a decline in airline ticket sales. The failure of the FAA to act on this proposal is, to many critics, a sign that the agency is more concerned with the potential loss of revenue to the airline industry than the potential loss of a young child’s life.

The critics’ claim is not entirely without merit, as it is common for the FAA to consider potential financial consequences when contemplating a new regulation. However, the critics fundamentally misunderstand the role that this cost-benefit analysis plays in the agency’s decision-making process. If the FAA enacts regulations that make plane tickets prohibitively expensive, people will instead travel by car, statistically a much more dangerous mode of transportation than flying. Thus, when the FAA declines to revise its “lap child” policy, it does so not to protect the airline industry’s revenues but to reduce the risks associated with travel for children and their parents. Moreover, there is a built-in safeguard to prevent the FAA from protecting revenues at the expense of travelers’ safety: if the FAA failed to act on a significant safety concern, the public would lose confidence in airline travel, causing harm to the industry itself. Ultimately, the FAA’s duty to promote commercial aviation serves to reinforce its safety mission rather than undermine it.

1. Which of the following best describes the author’s main idea?

A) The FAA’s mandate to promote civil aviation is fundamentally incompatible with its duty to regulate the safety of commercial airline travel.
B) The FAA is the government agency that oversees commercial aviation within the United States.
C) In response to the critics’ claim that the FAA has incompatible mandates, Congress should remove the duty to promote civil aviation from the FAA’s list of responsibilities.
D) Despite claims to the contrary, the FAA’s duty to promote civil aviation is not incompatible with its responsibility to regulate airline safety.
E) The FAA’s decision to continue the practice of allowing lap children will ultimately save lives.


2. The author refers to the “cost-benefit analysis” (Highlighted) undertaken by the FAA most likely in order to

A) summarize the primary responsibilities of the FAA
B) explain the rationale that underpins a policy decision made by the FAA
C) question the ability of the FAA to balance two competing obligations
D) criticize a policy decision made by the FAA
E) defend the FAA’s ability to successfully manage its list of responsibilities