We have all been waiting for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to drop the bomb on private flying, and last fall it did with announcement of its new rules that impact all airplanes certified for takeoff weights above 12,500 pounds. In general, the TSA has taken the security procedures it inflicts on airlines and their passengers and applied them to privately owned and flown airplanes.
Part of the problem is the decades-old language in the FAA’s certification rules. When the modern aircraft standards were created by the old CAB in the years after World War II, the maximum takeoff weight of 12,500 pounds was selected as the dividing line between transport and normal category airplanes. I have never seen a clear explanation of how that weight was selected, but it was, and it endures to this day. But the worst part is that airplanes weighing less than 12,500 pounds are called “small,” but those of greater weight are “large” aircraft. And that’s all the TSA needs. If it’s a “large” airplane than it is a “big” threat and the TSA intends to apply onerous regulations on its operations.
