A federal appeals court has offered hope that action could one day be taken to halt the ever decreasing seat pitch on aircraft.
The US Court of Appeals in Washington ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to review the issue after it had previously refused to do so because it ‘does consider seat pitch in testing and assessing the safe evacuation of commercial, passenger aircraft.’
However the court said the FAA had used ‘off-point" studies’ with ‘undisclosed tests using unknown parameters’ to refuse a request by passenger group Flyers Rights to set minimum sizes.
"That type of vaporous record will not do," the three judge panel said, calling it ‘the case of the incredible shrinking airline seat.’
"As many have no doubt noticed, aircraft seats and the spacing between them have been getting smaller and smaller, while American passengers have been growing in size," Judge Patricia Ann Millett wrote.
The ruling criticized the FAA for refusing to disclose any data on tests.
"The problem here is that the administration has given no reasoned explanation for withholding the tests in their entirety, and it has declined to file them under seal or in redacted form," Judge Millet added.
Flyers Rights had argued seat pitch had shrunk from an average of 35 inches in the 1970s to 31 inches, and even 28 inches in some cases.
"We hope the FAA will now take it up as a proper rule making," said Paul Hudson, tpresident of Flyers Rights.
US rules state that aircraft manufacturers must prove a fully loaded plane can be evacuated within 90 seconds under low lighting conditions and with up to half the exit doors blocked.
