Thomas Phillip Nehez v. National Transportation Safety Board and Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration

Opinion by Judge SCHROEDER.

Thomas Phillip Nehez petitions for review of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (“NTSB”) decision that he violated Federal Aviation Regulation 91.9. He contends that there was no evidence that he had “endangered the life or property of another” within the meaning of that regulation. He also contends that the Administrator’s sanction, suspension of his airline transport pilot’s license for thirty days, was arbitrary and capricious. We affirm because the NTSB applied the correct standard in determining that Nehez violated § 91.9, because its decision is supported by the evidence, and because we need not consider the severity of the sanction in light of the fact that the sanction has been waived and will never be imposed.

On January 6, 1990, Thomas Nehez served as the second in command on America West Airlines flight" 19 departing from Des Moines, Iowa. According to Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) regulations, a pilot executing a take-off must comply with the visibility requirements set forth in each airline’s FAA-approved operations specifications manual. For this particular flight, America West operations specifications required a…