Challenging a Denial

[Dave Pitman]

I have not heard of a mechanism to appeal a denial. Since decisions are being made by employees of subcontractors, the person may have little aviation experience and perhaps is just responding by reference to a set of printed guidelines. There is a great chance that the person doing the applying has way more knowledge and experience than the person doing the deciding. Yet there is really no way to question the decision or even have it reviewed by someone else..

Does this strike anyone else as peculiar and in need of a review process when the applicant believes that the decision was wrong?

 

[BigAl07]

You would think there would be a process but there isn't. That's pretty much how it is with many aspects of the FAA. Their way or the highway (literally LOL).

Have you had some approved? Maybe contact your "person" who sent you the approval and see if they can look into it for you.

 

[Dave Pitman]

That is a good idea. I will give that a try.

There does need to be a more transparent process. The goal should be safe operation and not subjective judgement. Perhaps a denial is justified. But there is currently no way to know.

 

[Stephen Mann]

You don't state what waiver you are seeking, but if you post your application here, maybe some of us may be able to find the flaw or concern that would cause a denial. What did the FAA say was the reason for denial? From my experience flying Cessnas for aerial photography, the FAA is usually quite cooperative when the requested activity is reasonable and safe. Waivers are usually bounced because the safety precautions aren't adequately described.

There is an appeal process for any administrative decision, but it takes months (or years) and can get costly. Since a waiver is a form of certification, you would probably file a Petition For Review of a Certificate Denial. https://www.ntsb.gov/legal/alj/Pages/process_faq.aspx

The appeals process is usually used by commercial pilots, freight operators or repair facilities who have been subjected to a "certificate action" that puts them out of business. Most of the cases are settled prior to getting before an ALJ ( Administrative Law Judge) because the majority of appeals usually don't end well.

It's so much easier to correct any deficiencies in your application and resubmit it. Treat it like a whole new waiver application with no reference to the prior request. Odds are that the reviewer will be a different person with a different attitude.

 

[Dave Pitman]

You don't state what waiver you are seeking, but if you post your application here, maybe some of us may be able to find the flaw or concern that would cause a denial. What did the FAA say was the reason for denial?

Generic canned response, no detail. The reviewer does not provide his contact info. I reached out to another FAA guy that has done some airspace stuff for me and he replied right away that he would help if he could but it is a different section that does waivers. He suggested looking the guy up on FAA's employee registry. I looked, and he's not on there that I can find. I sent a request through uasHelp as suggested by the FAA website asking for the guy's contact. No response.