FAA starts regulatory review of airplane seat size standards: Travel Weekly

The space between aircraft rows and the size of commercial airplane seats could be set by the FAA.

The public will be asked to provide comments on the safety impacts of existing seat width, seat length, and the space between rows.

Current regulations require that aircraft be able to be evacuated within 90 seconds.

After the request-for-comments document is posted in the Federal Register, the public will have 90 days to make recommendations.

New regulatory standards will be decided by the FAA. Technical data will be the most helpful.

Congress mandated that the FAA set new seat size and pitch standards based on what is needed for the safety and health of passengers.

The results of the tests were released in March. According to the report, the cabin configurations currently flown by U.S. carriers don't affect the progress of American evacuees. The tests relied on able-bodied adults under the age of 60. There were no senior citizens, children or disabled people in the event.

They give useful, but not necessarily definitive, information about the effects of seat dimensions on safe evacuates.

The public will be asked to give feedback on the seat and pitch dimensions in order to ensure safety in the event of a plane crash.