Source: http://openjurist.org/430/f3d/757/cleveland-national-air-show-inc-v-united-states-department-of-transportation
Timestamp: 2015-09-04 14:38:01
Document Index: 395963200

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 44701', '§ 44701', '§ 46105', '§ 352', '§ 352', '§ 352', '§ 521', '§ 521', '§ 521', '§ 2']

430 F3d 757 Cleveland National Air Show Inc v. United States Department of Transportation | OpenJurist
430 F. 3d 757 - Cleveland National Air Show Inc v. United States Department of Transportation Home
430 F3d 757 Cleveland National Air Show Inc v. United States Department of Transportation 430 F.3d 757
CLEVELAND NATIONAL AIR SHOW, INC., Petitioner,v.UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Federal Aviation Administration, et al., Respondents.
No. 04-4089.
Decided and Filed: December 1, 2005.
ARGUED: Jay Clinton Rice, Gallagher, Sharp, Fulton & Norman, Cleveland, Ohio, for Petitioner. John Koppel, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondents. ON BRIEF: Jay Clinton Rice, Timothy John Fitzgerald, Joseph W. Pappalardo, Colleen A. Mountcastle, Gallagher, Sharp, Fulton & Norman, Cleveland, Ohio, for Petitioner. John Koppel, Mark B. Stern, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondents.
The Cleveland National Air Show challenges an order of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) denying its request for a waiver that would allow it to conduct its air show within a congressionally mandated no-fly zone surrounding Jacobs Field, the home of the Cleveland Indians. Because the FAA reasonably interpreted the waiver provision and because the Air Show's other challenges to the waiver decision are unconvincing, we affirm.
Congress has charged the FAA with "promot[ing] safe flight of civil aircraft in air commerce," 49 U.S.C. § 44701(a), and has granted it authority to prescribe "regulations and minimum standards for other practices, methods, and procedure[s] the Administrator finds necessary for safety in air commerce and national security," § 44701(a)(5). The Administrator also may enact regulations and orders without notice or formal rulemaking when "the Administrator is of the opinion that an emergency exists related to safety in air commerce and requires immediate action." § 46105(c).
One such emergency occurred on September 11, 2001. In response to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the FAA ordered the air traffic system shut down for all civil operations. When the FAA permitted flights to resume, it subjected them to enhanced security restrictions. On December 19, 2001, for example, the FAA issued Notice to Airmen 1/3353, which created no-fly zones over "any major professional or collegiate sporting event or any other major open air assembly of people unless authorized by [air traffic control]." At the same time, the FAA established procedures allowing pilots to seek waivers from the restrictions.
On September 27, 2002, the FAA issued Notice 2/0199, which superseded Notice 1/3353. The new regulation scaled back the number of no-fly zones, limiting them to "any stadium having a seating capacity of 30,000 or more in which a Major League Baseball, National Football League, NCAA Division One football, or major motor speedway event is occurring," and required pilots to observe no-fly zones from "one hour before ... until one hour after the end of the event." Notice 2/0199. The Notice exempted local airport arrivals and departures in contact with air traffic control as well as Department of Defense, law enforcement and aeromedical flight operations. Once again, the FAA created a waiver procedure for pilots to seek an exemption from the no-fly zone.
On February 20, 2003, Congress entered the picture. Section 352(a) of the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Pub.L. No. 108-7, 117 Stat. 11, 420-21 (2003), required the Secretary of Transportation to keep the no-fly zones established by Notice 2/0199 in effect, to rescind all existing waivers and to grant new waivers only when the applicant fit within a listed exception. One of the exceptions allowed a waiver "for operational purposes of an event, stadium, or other venue, including (in the case of a sporting event) equipment or parts, transport of team members ... to and from the event, stadium, or venue." § 352(a)(3)(B). At the same time, the statute said that the Secretary could modify § 352 after one year so long as the new standards provided "a level of security at least equivalent to that provided by the [statutory] waiver policy." § 352(b).
On March 6, 2003, in response to this legislation, the FAA issued Notice 3/1862, which superseded Notice 2/0199, provided the requisite no-fly-zone restrictions and included the required waiver provision.
On January 23, 2004, Congress returned to the topic in passing another appropriations act—Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004, Pub.L. No. 108-199, § 521, 118 Stat. 3, 343 (2004). As before, the act required the FAA to keep the sporting-event no-fly zones of Notice 2/0199 in effect. § 521(a)(1). This time, however, Congress required the no-fly zones over Walt Disney World and Disneyland, created by Notices 3/2122 and 3/2123 respectively, to be maintained and included a slightly modified waiver provision. Id. The new waiver provision again limited the FAA's authority to grant waivers, permitting it to do so only for narrow reasons, including "with respect to an event, stadium, or other venue ... for operational purposes." § 521(a)(2)(B)(i). Unlike the former provision, the new one did not allow the FAA to modify the waiver procedure in one year. See id.
On each Labor Day weekend since 1964, the Cleveland National Air Show has hosted an aerial demonstration along the shore of Lake Erie at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, featuring the United States Navy Blue Angels, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds and numerous other performers. To host this event, the Air Show has applied each year to the FAA for a "Certificate of Waiver or Authorization," which allows pilots to conduct operations that would otherwise violate FAA regulations such as the rules concerning speed and minimum altitude. Until August 2004, it appears that the Air Show received these certificates without incident or interruption.
On August 23, 2004, less than two weeks before Labor Day, the FAA responded to the Air Show's June request for a Certificate, granting it in the main but denying it for all flights on Friday, September 3, after 6:05 p.m. In explaining its partial denial, the FAA told the Air Show that the first pitch of a Cleveland Indians baseball game was scheduled for 7:05 p.m. that night, putting the no-fly zone established by Notice 2/0199 into effect.
A flurry of correspondence followed. On August 25, the Air Show sent a letter to the FAA contesting the denial. The same day, an FAA official sent the Air Show an e-mail indicating that the denial was "mandated by Congress." JA 64. On August 27, the FAA responded to the Air Show and again said that congressional law required it to deny all flights in the area after 6:05 p.m., Friday night. On August 29, the Air Show wrote another letter offering several reasons why the Indians game and air show could run concurrently. On August 30, during a phone conversation, the FAA granted the Certificate for flights during the Indians game but did so only with respect to Department of Defense aircraft. On August 31, the Air Show sent yet another letter contesting the FAA's interpretation. On September 1, two days before Labor Day, the Air Show wrote a fourth letter, again disputing the FAA's interpretation and again complaining that the denial would disrupt the air show. That same day, the Air Show acknowledged in a press release that "[a]fter many discussions and much analysis, we now agree that the FAA's hands are tied by this law." JA 89 (quotation omitted).
On September 2, the Air Show nonetheless filed a petition for review of the FAA order in this court and an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal. On September 3, the day of the show, this court denied the requested stay and later that day denied the Air Show's emergency motion for rehearing.
Before reaching the merits of the Air Show's petition for review, we must assess whether we have authority to resolve this matter. Article III, § 2 of the Constitution gives us authority only to decide "cases" or "controversies," and a dispute that has become moot no longer satisfies that requirement. See Chirc