Despite stiff pressure from a number of aviation member organziations, the Transportation Security Adminstration has so far not backed down from a June 1st deadline for a rule that will require all unescorted personnel to have approved badges while being on the active areas of the ramp of an airport that has commercial air service or risk huge fines and possible additional legal action.
The directive is unclear, and despite its imminent release, the rule is little known by pilots, FBO operators or security personnel. Questions abound, and it's hard to find answers for them. Exactly who needs badges and where they need them is unclear, and it 's not clear where, if anywhere, a pilot might look to find out if he, for instance, needs an escort from his airplane to the terminal building of an unfamiliar airport that he lands at after hours.
As an example of just how little known the rule is, I called the desks at my local FBOs to find out how much, if anything, they knew about the new directive. The answer in both cases was, it was the first time they'd even heard about it. The front desk attendant at Atlantic Aviation in Austin, for example, assured me in a very poilte way that I must be wrong about the directive, because he surely would have heard about such a thing. He did give me a number to get a badge, if I wanted one.
When I spoke with a TSA official at the airport who did know about the directive, I was told that Atlantic's ramps were not controlled areas--though nothing in TSA's guidance would lead one to believe that--and that the tee-hangers at Signature, further down the field, were for some reason required-badge areas, though they're hundreds of yards further way from the airline terminal. And in case you were wondering, there are no markings or signs of any kind to indicate which areas are prohibited and which are not.
What the rule requires is equally unclear. Do pilots who fly in to an airport served by even one airline flight a day require a badge, FOR THAT SPECIFIC AIRPORT? The rule seems to suggest they do. This is, of course, an absurdity. I counted: last year I landed at 32 different airports that I think have airline service, and I might have missed a couple. How could a pilot be expected to get badges for every one of those airports--would a personal visit be required for the fingerprinting and background check application?
To add insult to injury, the TSA is instituting this rule by way of a security rule process, which seems little more than a way for the TSA to put forth the rule and not have to address what it knows will be a deluge of negative comments.
And we agree. It's time to contact your elected officials and ask them to put pressure on the TSA to do the right thing here. The rule, in our opinion, would be confusing, unevenly implemented, randomly enforced, and completely unfunded. AND it would do no positive good toward improving security.
All Comments
I strongly feel that it is time that the pilots of America demand the resignation of Janet Nepolitano. This madness along with other insults to the citizens of OUR country have gone one long enough. The "leadedship" of the HSA must be using Marcsist play books for it SOP.
Typical form over function and a complete lack of concern or comprehension of the impact a bizarre mandate will have on GA. At some point the GA pilot walks away from aviation and the system fails. The impact of the loss of GA is so far reaching that TSA will be unable to reverse what it has created. No need for badges if there are no people at the airports. No people, no pilots, no safety problem. That's a fine solution.
We flew in a 421 to ten countries in Europe. (flew it across the pond). Never asked for our passports or even for ID. Not one customs asked anything. Upon return to the US the US Customs held us for two days while they checked out everything. Papers, plane etc. And we are American born citizens. They were nasty and basically moronic government officials with a small amount of power. Reminds me of the Nazis and WW 2. The TSA is out of line, tell them to F off.
R. Little
Mr. McCormick, our government is basically upside down; please don't chuck it all in...it is times like this that American citizens need to fight for the freedoms that are being taken away each and every day by an out of control Executive, Legislative and soon to be Judicial Branch of Government...Stay and fight...if not for you, do it for the future of General Aviation.
Hallo my dear Americans
My name is Michael and I am a young Executive Pilot from Austria,Europe. You guys might know that general aviation in Europe is very small,expensive and for us Pilots it is a pain in the A... to comply with all that stupid rules over here on the old continent.
I allways love to spend time (and money) in the USA for pleasure flying or Type ratings so please stop your government from dwstroying the last and only "Aviation Paradise" in the world !!!!!!!!
Kind Regards
Inthal Michael
We have all heard the old saw "Those that would trade freedom for security deserve neither" The TSA was developed to do just that. So many stories about the absurdity of some of the procedures has caused me to dislike air travel. Something I once enjoyed and looked forward to.
In January I took the two-hour course and test at KTUS, and had a background check. Badge was issued in April, good only at KTUS. Process was relatively painless, but unnecessary as I know all the folks at my FBO.
Mike B
Meridian KTUS & KAPA
Knowing the stupidity of the TSA, they will want a different card for every airport. They forced me to get a TSA issued TWIC card for work. This card requires a photo, fingerprinting, FBI background check, and 120 dollars every 5 years. Would you believe the TSA will not accept their own card as ID to get on a commercial flight?
Guys, I was at Potomac (VKX) Airport when 9/11 occurred and I have seen the stupidity of TSA up close and personal for many years. We were forced to close the field for 6 months, get background checks, and fly under extreme positive control in the TFR. The airfield owner Dave Wartofsky and I fought TSA and found that TSA knew almost nothing about airport/aircraft security, I (we)provided analysis of the GA threat to no avail--nothing seems to have changed in the ensuing years. For the record, in Nov 01 that the USAF dismissed GA as a very limited, if any, threat. I left VKX in 2005 and we were still under the severe restrictions. I say FIGHT TSA, GA flying is worth it--Dr. Ken Nolde, Major USAF(Ret.)
I am a privat pilot from France and live in Limoges. I own and fly a N registered PA28 I bought in the US and flew back across the pond myself. Just wanted to let you know how it works here.
When on the GA ramp you must be able to show EITHER a badge OR a pilot's license. If you are a passenger escorted by "your" pilot no problem, you need nothing. This is in my opinion a sensible rule because it keeps out people who have nothing to do on the ramp from being there and may be a good thing for security. I think anything more restrictive is nonsense.
Good luck for keeping you aviation paradise alive !
It would be nice if the badges were vailid at all airports not simply you home base. It also seems so ludicris that you can not walk to and from your plane unescorted, but you can get in the plane and taxi all over the airport with no escort. You can even taxi right on to the active runway and take off!
I was an airport screener at Dullas Inl Airport and the only problem that I saw with the system was that they had too many forgien people in management position. They only had to make it a law that all screeners be american citizens and create a small gov agency to manage it..
The TSA was not needed in the first place if existing agencies did their jobs correctly and used the laws in place we would not have had this power hurgury agency. After the TSA took over they have done no better but have created another expensive brucratic agency that shows it is incapable of using common sense. Its a power play.
Customs, FBI and local police could do the job with good management . The 911 thing could not have been stopped even with the TSA in place.
It reminds me of the whole citizen requirement placed on CFIs - it is mandatory & ridiculous and in the small print pretty much says the TSA is depending on the CFIs because there is no way they can audit the accuracy. Now with the TSAs bureaucratic audacity, they want to shift risk once again to the local level. Instead of having something like an ISO standard, lets make each airport be responsible and create a huge mess of things - thats our TSA (no wonder nothing works.
When I read stuff like this, I question whether to get back into GA. I sold my Mooney in October and am supposed to look at a Bonanza this weekend to buy. Kind of makes me hope the prebuy goes bad. If I didn't love flying so much, I wouldn't buy another one.
We in the GA must stand and fight in this grab for power by the petty bureaucrats. Their goal is not safety but power; we may lose but it is more honorable to go down fighting that do nothing. I see private aviation as one of the last frontiers of the American spirit. I have been flying almost 50 years and have seen the government growing larger with little if any commensurant benefit and a considerable loss of individual freedom.
Stupid is as stupid does.
There are stupid people running the show and the American people are stupid for voting them in and allowing them to continue in office.
BTW, unless something has changed (and I may be wrong), I don't believe Wittman Field has had scheduled air service for several years and therefore shouldn't be affected.
It's not Napolitano that needs to go, it all the TSA leadership in DC. They have no idea what goes on "in the real world." Most of them haven't worked outside the beltway in decades. They claim to have talked to airports, but they have "friendly" airports they talk to to get support for their proposals. Get the old-timers out, change the overly burdensome federal hiring process and some of us airport would go to work for TSA to keep sanity in the security arena!
Our government is out of control and they think no one cares or that we are too stupid to make correct decisions. Please, write, call, AND stop at your elected officials office. This is just one more reason to attend the next TEA party in your area! EVERYBODY on capital hill needs to be fired or put on notice! Find someone running for office that has at least read the US Constitution and support them. Speak up now while we still have a somewhat free press. VOTE next election and do your homework- everything happening now was predicted- but the majority gave up freedoms for perceived security. We will end up with neither, and fast!
You all have only yourselves to blame. 911 was a rare 'drive-by shooting by a gang of thugs' (Tom Clancy) but you allowed this TSA thing to grow like an amoeba monster, under the fear-mongering of Bush. How do you stop a bureaucracy? Call your Senators and your Representative today and say "enough"! The local small airport in Allentown (Queen City) requires badges now. Biggest thing is a KA-200. Plus to drive to your T-hangar, an Umbrella insurance policy worth a $Million. Bush started this, you know he did, now let's put a stop to it before a whole facet of aviation, General Aviation, becomes a mass casualty.
If the TSA are so worried about security, why not require all pilots to apply for a common badge or security pass that was valid at all airports with commercial traffic? I don't see why they NEED to do this... as a valid FAA pilot license should suffice. But it makes far more sense than requiring individual passes at every airport (which is a complete absurdity and unworkable). Having a separate security badge would mean pilots who simply fly from small GA airports need not to worry. In Australia, they have implemented the requirement of a security pass that all pilots apply for. This security badge allows them access to all airports with commercial traffic day or night. I don't know however, if there have been any major problems. Getting a security pass requires a security check and doing this for all American pilots would be a major drag.
Ronald Reagan said, "Just Say NO!!!" Stand up and tell the TSA to get lost. If we don't stop them now you'll soon be having to do the same thing to get in your car - or walk across the street. Stop them. Call your congressman and if he doesn't do anything about it, replace him.
Elections have consequences. Unfortunately at the rate we are going, we may have experienced the last free election in the United States. The TSA is totally worthless, as is most of Napolitano's empire. I have an Arab-American friend who is afraid to fly through several US airports, especially Minneapolis, because the only people they check are old blond ladies.
His comment to me was, "You would think 9/11 was caused by a group of Norwegian grandmothers".
TSA? - BADGES? We don't need no stinking badges!! Meanwhile in a commercial ramp area some 80 something year old lady is being harrassed by TSA agent Habib and Kaneesha about her knitting needles, while agents Ernie and Kumar politely let a group of men furtively looking over their shoulders pass through with passive waves.
Later in DC, some TSA executive wipes the drool off their chin after waking up at their $15,000 desk, yawns, and leaves for home after another day of being overpaid for totally incompetence.
Maybe TSA is where all the Bush adminstation economic advisors found jobs.
Sadly, there is not likely to be a quick fix anytime soon. We need to stop electing the same people over and over.
Why do we expect a different outcome when we keep doing it like we have always done it?
Hey, of course this is unnecessary nonsense. It's sole purpose is to generate revenue as a hidden tax (every airport needs a badge for which there will be a processing fee) for a government that recognizes it has out-of-control spending and no proper accountability. While the TSA is to blame in this instance, there really needs to be a complete overhaul of the government in DC. The states that decide to secede from the Union and return to sensible government with less social welfare and unlimited spending will benefit economically from the millions of hard-working people who will flock there so they can earn a decent living!!!
If the idiots at TSA are so worried about the threat posed by us pilots, then do a background on us, put our photo on the license, and use that as our "badge" to move around airport property at any airport. I'll even pay the $100 to get it done! After that, quit coming up with these stupid, unenforceable rules.
My father and many other brave Americans fought for our freedoms in this country. Unfortunately this issue and many other issues in federal government disrespect and disgrace their service. The federal government is no longer by the people and for the people, it's littered with political hacks who are self serving. America use to be the greatest country on earth, I'm not so sure anymore.
I wonder how the TSA luminaries are going to handle visiting (badge less) pilots from Canada if/when we land at airports in the US (including points of entry) which have scheduled services.
I suppose nothing that seizing our aircraft or horrendous hefty fines couldn't cure......
The recent imposition of the eAPIS requirements and conditions for border crossing in an personal aircraft is, in my opinion, quite odious and will certainly not encourage visits to the US via personal aircraft -- especially from the likes of moi.
I can understand the need for border and airport security --- and I understand the meaning of common sense, which is, in my opinion, somewhat lacking within the US TSA and Homeland Security administrators as they fumble and bumble their way along implementing questionable policy.
I have been flying since 1971 and have never seen so much poor decision making by our government. This is the first I have heard of this stupid rule. Our government is far to involved in our lives. We can not even get our votes counted with any degree of accuracy. General aviation as I have know it is disappearing. So sad, and the inmates are running the government.
Why are there no congress men or women looking into this? Why do we sit by, read these articles and do nothing? Cause we are all a little too busy? I am contacting my congressman about this, and I suggest that everyone else who reads this do as well. We HAVE to keep the air free, other wise, we will be the last "General Aviation Generation" alive.
It appears to me that the FAA and the TSA feel that only professional pilots should be aloud to be airborne. It will be a sad enough day when I have to give up my license because I am too old, or ill, or what ever, but now, the Government will just revoke our license because we are not professionals for pay?
I wrote Senator Saxby and Representative Kingston in Georgia about this TSA stupidity rule and the answer I recieved had absolutely no bearing what so ever on the problem with this TSA ruling. They did not address the subject at all,just said how much they supported GA.This is how our elected officials face the problems we have.
Hmmmm... This series of developments is reminiscent of another time and place (70-some years ago) when a government made a certain group of people wear badges and comply with absurd regulations as a means of ultimate total control. What enabled that to happen was good people standing by and letting it happen until it was too late...
What's sad is there is going to be no such thing as simple flying. Where does TSA stop? Pretty soon they will require pilots to get a government hired flight coordinator to check ID's of pax and pilot's just to go for a sight seeing flight! Then you can say goodbye to charter because it is going to be such a pain to fly that nobody is going to want to screw around with the bs. No wonder it is so hard for the aviation industry to stay alive!!! It has got so much worse after 911, but let's remember that the first terrorist attempt on the trade towers was done with a rental truck in the basement. Why don't we have government background checks to rent trucks? Why does it all come down to aviation? I'm surprised they haven't put the cabash on EAA! I suppose that EVERYONE will need badges for that too!!!
Write your Congressmen and Senators and ask them to write DHS and postpone the badge rule.
We shouldn't need badges. Our licenses and photo ID should be enough.
If DHS pressures FAA to require photos, fingerprinting, and background checks on our licenses, I don't have a problem with that. I lost friends on 9/11 and I haven't forgotten that the threat still exists. But TSA patrolling the GA ramp?
Its time to rename the USA, the USSA! Oh well, its seems we Canadians are no longer welcome in the US either, never mind having badges and such. And of course you will also have to seek emailed permission to leave your country as well. Its a shame the US used to be a friendly FREE country to visit I always felt welcome in the land of the free. I won't bother with the $27.50 CAD to get this years sticker to fly down. Of course we are not far behind you in Canada with loss of liberty, in 2010 we are pretty much grounded for two months due to the winter Olympics. It is estimated to cost GA in the Vancouver region millions of dollars....
In the 8 years since "9/11" there has been ZERO instances where GA has been used to harm US citizens in a terrorist act. There was one Cessna that flew in from CANADA and landed in Missouri, but that pilot was trying to commit suicide. Looks to me like the GA community is doing a great job of securing and protecting themselves. The TSA is just taking a page out of the current administration's playbook of grabbing power while they can. Soon personal accomplishment, risk and reward will be gone. Didn't somebody rent a Ryder truck so many years ago and do something crazy? Still I can go rent one with no red tape what-so-ever. But I can't walk up to my own 1800lb airplane made of fabric?
It has to stop... it is unfortunate that our government leaders and the appointed heads of its many out crops are to dense to see that they are destroying what they have enjoyed and taken advantage of their entire lives. We will spend years digging out of this and the many other "over reaches" of our government.
No, no don't write you Representatives. Postal mail quarantined for awhile. Email is lost in the shuffle.
CALL THEM in DC and/or locally, 2 Senators and one Representative. Do it now. STOP TSA at large airport FBOs and at small airports (next) AND NO USER FEES to fly. AvGas tax works fine as is.
Let's write to our new Messiah in the White House. I am sure he will find some answer on the teleprompter (if he doesn't stumble and stutter on it).
Now seriously, it is past due for us to contact ALL the representatives, local, state and federal. This kind of Soviet Union style persecution must stop at once. The only incentives the TSA employees have is to grow their agency, so they amassing more power to do it.
Just an idea, what if all general aviation pilots go on strike. That means no more bizjet flights for all the government jetsetters. Let's ground them all until they come to senses and fire TSA employees who are responsible for this gestapo-like tactics.
Keep in mind it is NOT TSA per se, it is TSA public servants (= employees paid by us, the taxpayers) who are responsible.
Civil disobedience. On June 1st why don't as many of us as possible, stroll onto the FBO ramps without IDs and enjoy the beautiful machines, take pictures, have videocameras ready-to-go for YouTube? Bush and his TSA strarted this. Let's send a message to the new adminstration to back off.
I believe that GA pilots can take care of their own security. We know what goes on around an airport so therefore we would know what might seem out of place. Use common sense and let’s not loose our freedoms! Whether big or small people fought and died to protect them.
