As you may have seen in the past, when the FAA wants to send a message or make a statement regarding its proposed assessment of a civil penalty, oftentimes it will issue a press release. In many instances these press releases announce proposed civil penalties in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars for alleged regulatory violations.
Have you ever wondered how the FAA comes up with those numbers? Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending upon your perspective, the FAA doesn’t just pull a number out of a hat. Rather, the FAA has guidance it is required to use when it calculates a proposed civil penalty. For a discussion of this guidance and how the FAA is supposed to use it in determining the amount of a civil penalty, please read my latest article on the topic: How Does The FAA Calculate A Civil Penalty?.
