What Is A Regulation?
Aviation Is Governed by Federal Regulations. Thus, pilots are all familiar with “regs.” But have you ever wondered from where they come, where they live, and whether they are actually the law? In short (and in turn): they are rules made by the FAA through a process called rule making that live in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and they are definitely governing, binding law.
Federal Aviation Regulations. Regulations are laws created by administrative agencies—in aviation, the FAA. Administrative agencies are governmental units created by the legislature (the Congress) via statutes (the laws that Congress passes) to exist under the executive branch’s (the President) power. The Congress creates agencies to essentially delegate regulatory work over some aspect of United States affairs. Examples include the Environmental Protection Agency (to oversee environmental protection) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (to oversee, primarily, stock offering and trading).
The FAA—as with the other federal agencies—”promulgates” (makes) regulations through a process called “rulemaking” that is governed by federal statutes called the Administrative Procedures Act. In basic terms, the process is: (1) the FAA creates a proposed rule; (2) it publishes notice to the public for comment for a period of no less than 30 days; and (3) after considering comments and concerns, the FAA can finalize the rule and publish it in a public notice document called the Federal Register noting an “effective date” (date on which the regulation will take effect). Once effective, a regulation is the law. Final (adopted) regulations are published in the Code of Federal Regulations (the “CFR”)—that’s the permanent repository where they “live”.
The FAA’s regulations governing aviation are found in Title 14, Chapter 1 of the CFR (click here to see them). They are often referred to as the Federal Aviation Regulations (“FARs”). Chapter 1 consists of 198 Parts—the most pertinent to general aviation pilots are Part 1 (Definitions and Abbreviations), Part 61 (certification of airmen), and Part 91 (General Operating and Flight Rules). Commercial pilots will be familiar also with Parts 119, 121, 125, 129, and 135.
Reading FARs. When you see FAR numbers, the digits before the decimal point tell you what Part the section is in, and the digits after the point tell you which number regulation it is within that Part. E.g., FAR 61.51 is within Part 61 of Title 14 of the CFR and thus relates to the certification of airmen. You may see a regulation written in this form: 14 CFR § 91.175. The symbol that is two stacked “S” letter means “section.” So that is just a shorthand for 14 CFR section 91.175 (takeoff and landing under IFR). Alternately, you may see it expressed as “FAR § 91.175”—which just tells you this is a regulation in Title 14 (the FARs) within Part 91, regulation 175. You might also see it just as FAR 91.175. That’s the easiest and most useful within the aviation community, in my view.
What about the AIM or Advisory Circulars? The AIM (the Aeronautical Information Manual) and Advisory Circulars are published by the FAA, but they are non regulatory material. That is, their purpose is primarily to convey guidance on safety, procedures, and resources. They are not the law, but they still do tell you what the FAA’s position is on whatever topic they are presenting—so pilots and operators should certainly consider that the AIM and ACs express how the FAA wants us to operate. Those publications also happen to contain well-researched and well-considered material.
Legal Interpretation Letters. Another type of guidance the FAA can issue is a legal interpretation letter. Those are usually in direct response to a request from a specific person or company in the public seeking the FAA’s position on how a regulation applies to a specific set of facts. Those letters are issued from the FAA’s lawyers and represent the FAA’s position on how it would apply the regulation in the presented scenario. They are thus useful to understand how the FAA would enforce the law in a specific fact scenario—which can often be rationally applied to other similar scenarios as well. So these are also not binding law—but they tell you how the FAA views that regulation (at least at that point in time) and should thus be considered firm guidance.
