TSA Working To Address GA Issues

Despite continual change at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the agency has remained focused on several key general aviation initiatives and is working closely with industry groups to see that they move forward. At least one of those issues, access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), has started to gain momentum.

The TSA’s General Aviation Branch has undergone a series of leadership changes in recent years. But those senior officials, including Zach Carder, Kerwin Wilson and Brian Delauter (all of whom have either left the agency or moved on to different roles), laid a foundation for collaboration with industry on general aviation issues.

While that effort continues under the management of the TSA’s Kevin Knott, Congress passed a bill in December that requires continued TSA collaboration. That bill, the Aviation Stakeholder Participation Act, directs the TSA Administrator to consult with an aviation advisory committee on security matters. The committee is to represent a spectrum of industry, including general aviation. A primary venue for this collaboration is the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), which had reactivated in recent years and most recently renewed its charter six months ago. Jens Hennig, vice president of operations for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and chair of the ASAC’s general aviation working group, said the TSA has tasked the ASAC to work on a number of issues, from DCA access to airport security guidelines and flight training.

Access to Reagan National

Access to DCA has been a priority for the TSA, which in recent years has chipped away at some of the more onerous requirements in the DCA Access Standard Security Program (DASSP). The TSA has reduced the number of prohibited items and changed advance notice requirements for crew. It also altered the background checks and significantly expanded the number of gateway locations to nearly 100.

But business aircraft traffic has flattened out at the lone fixed-base operation at DCA, remaining at roughly six to seven operations daily, depending on the day and time of year. Industry leaders point to a requirement to carry an armed security officer (ASO) on board as the single largest obstacle to improving access to DCA and increasing traffic there.

TSA officials have long promised to address this. Wilson had hoped to have an alternative to the ASO in place by the end of 2013.  But before the year ended, he had moved out of the GA Branch. 

After Wilson departed, Charlie LeBlanc, vice president of security services for FrontierMedex and founding member of the NBAA Security Council, had expressed frustration at the turnover, telling AIN “Just when we get traction with TSA the staff and leadership changes.”

But he was encouraged that the industry had gathered sufficient data to support the notion that Part 91 aircraft did not need ASOs and that it had developed alternative solutions. Carder, who stepped in as engagement leader after Wilson left, told the National Air Transportation Association Air Charter Summit last summer that the agency was considering alternatives to eliminate the requirement, such as extra vetting.

While Carder, too, has taken another role, he ensured that the agency kept its focus on the DCA issue. The TSA tasked the ASAC to collaborate with the agency on the program. “The ASAC continues to review different GA security programs and has identified several streamlining opportunities,” Hennig said. “One program on the docket for this year’s work is the DASSP and the long-debated requirement to have an ASO on board.”  

But instead of looking at an alternative to the ASO requirement, the agency had asked the ASAC to consider its elimination. Such a move would require careful coordination with other government agencies with security interests, such as the Secret Service.

Hennig noted, however, “A number of things have changed since the ASO requirement was introduced a decade ago, including the requirement for ASOs on airliners at DCA. Also, the DASSP has proved itself as a program that achieves the government’s security objectives.”

The issue was so important to the TSA that the agency asked the ASAC to act quickly on a measure to support the elimination of the ASO requirement from the DASSP and to support TSA coordination with other agencies on the issue. The ASAC originally had planned to address the issue in May, but the TSA asked the group to vote on it instead in February, saying the ASAC sign-off would be helpful with interagency coordination, according to minutes of the meeting. The ASAC readily agreed, unanimously approving it.

“I think there is opportunity to make some real headway on this issue this year,” Hennig said.

Flight Training and Airport Guidelines

But DCA is only one of several issues that TSA officials asked the ASAC to address. The ASAC is also looking at flight training. Vetting of foreign nationals has been an enduring concern for the flight training community since 9/11. The TSA provided some relief on the requirements when it took over background checks that formerly were handled by the Department of Justice. But the industry has been meeting requirements of an interim final rule that was issued more than a decade ago and clarified numerous times.

Working toward a final rule will enable the agency to clean up a number of technical issues that have arisen from the requirements over the past decade, Hennig said. A key goal of industry officials is to ease the paperwork requirements, particularly for “known” pilots so they don’t have to undergo a full process for each time they undergo current/recurrent training, he said. This will help build predictability into the background check process, he said.

The TSA further is working with the ASAC on revising general aviation airport guidelines that were assembled not long after 9/11. The industry has changed substantially since then and practices have evolved, Hennig said. New security programs have been implemented and new security requirements adopted since the guidelines were released, he noted, pointing to the repair station security rule. 

The TSA, meanwhile, is continuing to work at ways to ease temporary flight restrictions. The agency can do little to limit the number of TFRs, and TSA officials have acknowledged that the “VIP” TFRs, those involving travel by government officials, can present problems because they can pop up and demand considerable coordination in areas. Hennig notes that the industry is working with the TSA to introduce earlier notification about TFRs so as to make violations less likely. The TSA has worked on gateways and alternate airport possibilities, but industry groups are still pushing for easier access for operators with approved programs such as DASSP.

Despite its open collaboration on a number of these issues, the TSA remains quiet on the large aircraft security program. The agency has long stated that it is planning a supplement notice of proposed rulemaking, and it remains on the agency’s regulatory agenda. In fact, the agenda suggests a proposal could be out this summer. But that seems unlikely, and most observers don’t expect to see a proposal governing security covering operation of larger business aircraft any time soon.