Each fall, I spend considerable time officiating high school football games. This primary hobby has provided an interesting perspective on regulatory compliance. Officials have a rulebook, with guidance in the form of “case plays” analyzing potential on-field events against established standards. There is even an “Order 8900.1” dictating how an officiating crew operates on the field.
Across my decade of service to aviation safety, a few points about regulatory compliance have been made evident by my avocation:
(1) Open the book. ARSA training participants have heard repeatedly that compliance is not a “closed book test.” None of us should answer a question or consider an issue without finding and referencing the relevant rules. Unfortunately, an official on the field doesn’t have the opportunity to pull out a rulebook while administering a contest; being stripped of reference materials – while being yelled at by coaches and spectators who don’t know the rules – is a stark reminder of a written document’s value.
(2) Allow what’s not prohibited. This point is routinely made in ARSA’s letters to civil aviation authorities, highlighted in editorials, and was the subject of a 2020 panel at the annual conference. For sports officials, the National Federation of High Schools is clearer on the point than the federal government: “A rule sometimes states what a player may do, but if there is no such statement for a given act (such as faking a kick) it is assumed that he may do what is not prohibited.” (See NFHS Football Rule 2-37.) This principle drives flexibility in compliance and reasonable oversight on the field and in aviation safety.
(3) Mind the meaning. The heftiest part of the football rulebook is Rule 2 – Definitions. While the book’s drafters gave the top spot to foundational standards for “the game, the field, the players, and equipment,” every new official begins their study in Rule 2. Over 14 pages, the book defines key terms. From “targeting” a “defenseless player” to “players” being “out of bounds” to “catching” a “legal forward pass,” the standards governing play make sense only through the lens of explanation. (I carry personal pet peeves about commonly misused terms, most notably the announcers who conflate an infraction of the rules committed by a player, i.e., a “foul”, with the enforcement of lost yardage prescribed against that infraction, i.e., a “penalty.”)
This final connection with the aviation safety rules is incredibly important. I’ve recently resurrected my personal campaign challenging FAA authority to issue certain airworthiness directives. First with a parachute and now a life preserver, ARSA has questioned how the articles in question fall under the applicability of Part 39. That determination requires analyzing the definitions of aircraft, aircraft engine, propeller, and appliance. ARSA has three short training sessions on the word “appliance” – the time is coming for a fourth, using these examples to explain “why do you care?” – and those who have followed along should recognize the three-part standard well:
Appliance means any instrument, mechanism, equipment, part, apparatus, appurtenance, or accessory, including communications equipment, that is (1) used or intended to be used in operating or controlling an aircraft in flight, is (2) installed in or attached to the aircraft, and is (3) not part of an airframe, engine, or propeller. (Numbering added for emphasis.)
In the most recent letter to the FAA regarding AD authority, the ARSA team dove even further into the words within this definition. We focused on “operating” or “controlling” an aircraft. “Operate” is defined in § 1.1 as “[to] use, cause to use, or authorize to use aircraft for the purpose … of air navigation. “Control” is without regulatory definition but is described by Webster’s as a verb meaning “to exercise restraining or directing influence over” with reference to “controls” as a noun including “a device or mechanism used to regulate or guide the operation of a machine.” Though some rules, e.g., § 121.137, mandate equipage of approved life preservers for extended overwater operations, requiring an item as a perquisite for operation does not equate to utilization or direction for air navigation as described in the definitions of “Operate” and “Control”.
Plain reading of the rules, in aviation or sports officiating, requires careful deconstruction of words and sentences. Regardless of whether you’re facing a misused applicability, a too-narrowly-defined aircraft class, or an undefined football playing action, compliance is an exercise dependent on reading every word and using them correctly.
Brett Levanto is vice president of operations of Obadal, Filler, MacLeod & Klein, P.L.C. managing firm and client communications in conjunction with regulatory and legislative policy initiatives. He provides strategic and logistical support for the Aeronautical Repair Station Association.
