U.S. court rejects latest FAA overflight fee rule WASHINGTON (Reuters) =97 A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected the= Federal=20 Aviation Administration's latest effort to justify air traffic control fees= =20 charged to planes that overfly the United States. The Air Transport=20 Association of Canada had challenged the fees, arguing that overflights,=20 with no landing involved, are cheaper for the FAA to supervise since they=20 take place in less crowded air space above 18,000 feet (5,500 meters). The= =20 three-judge panel, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of=20 Columbia, said the FAA had failed to contradict the evidence put forward by= =20 the Canadian airline industry group. "For the third time, we find that the= =20 FAA disregarded its statutory mandate," said Judge Stephen Williams,=20 writing for the court. Also rejected was the FAA's argument that 2001=20 legislation limited judicial review of the case. The court said the=20 Canadian challenge predated that law by over a month and fell outside=20 certain irrelevant exceptions in that statute. An FAA spokesman said the=20 agency was reviewing the implications of the ruling. The ATAC did not=20 immediately return a call seeking comment. Congress directed the FAA in=20 1996 to recover the costs of supervising flights transiting across the=20 United States. In 1998 the court rejected the FAA's interim final rules for= =20 the fees because the charges were not directly related to the costs. FAA=20 subsequently reworked its calculations but the court rejected those in 2001= =20 for assuming the same per-mile costs for servicing overflights and=20 non-overflights. FAA then reissued the final rule in largely the same form,= =20 the court said. The ATAC filed on Oct. 11, 2001 for review of the FAA's=20 final rule, ahead of a Nov. 19, 2001, amendment limiting judicial review of= =20 the fees. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************