The National Business Aviation
Association has welcomed the US House of Representatives’ passage of much-needed
legislation that would strengthen and streamline security for general aviation
and charter operators. The
bill (HR3669) - “Securing General Aviation and Commercial Charter Air Carrier
Service Act of 2017" - sponsored by Rep. Ron Estes (R-4-KS), would improve
security procedures for general aviation and commercial charter air carriers.
The bill would:
- Require the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) to conduct a cost and feasibility study of establishing
web-based access to the Secure Flight system for commercial charter
operators.
- Authorize the TSA to provide screening
services to commercial charter operators in areas other than primary
passenger terminals, if the carrier makes that request through the airport's
federal security director.
- Require the TSA to provide Congress with
an implementation plan for general aviation recommendations approved by the
Aviation Security Advisory Council.
- Authorize the TSA to designate at least
one employee to be responsible for issues and stakeholder engagement related
to general aviation.
- Require the TSA to issue a report to
Congress on the feasibility of requiring security threat assessments for all
candidates seeking flight school training to operate any aircraft with a
maximum certificated takeoff weight of more than 12,500 pounds in order to
increase vetting of such candidates.
“We applaud Rep. Estes for
introducing this important legislation, which would provide much-needed
streamlining of security for general aviation and commercial charter air
carriers,” said NBAA President and CEO
Ed Bolen. “The bill would offer more
flexibility to general aviation and charter operators, while also increasing
security.”
A report on the bill by the House
Committee on Homeland Security said that because general aviation and commercial
charter air carriers represent a small fraction of TSA's stakeholder community,
the industry’s issues and concerns often “fall to the bottom of the agency's
priorities. This bill seeks to elevate some of these important, but often
overlooked, security issues.”
The committee didn’t hold
hearings on the bill, but in its report said that the legislation was informed
by a 2012 Subcommittee on Transportation Security Subcommittee hearing titled,
“A Decade After 9/11 Could American Flight Schools Still Unknowingly Be Training
Terrorists?The subcommittee received testimony from Bolen and other industry and
government officials on this question.
The bill now heads to the Senate
for possible consideration. |