Last week, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a confirmation hearing on the nomination of John Pistole to be the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) administrator. Unlike two former nominees who failed to pass muster, Pistole appears likely to be confirmed; at least a couple of senators commented after questioning him that they planned to vote to confirm him. The agency has been without an administrator for 18 months.
While much of the questioning centered around whether TSA employees should be allowed to secure collective bargaining rights, the most interesting revelation from a General Aviation point of view was one Senator’s acknowledgment of the effectiveness of pilots in lobbying Congress. His prior question had been about understaffing of the security lines at Dulles Airport, in spite of millions spent on a new security mezzanine, which led to a 45 minute wait to clear the security line. The Senator then followed up with this question.
Senator: “You go to another part of Dulles airport, which is where General Aviation lands, and Sen. Thune brought this up, and there's nothing. There are no waiting lines, nobody is checking identity, you just carry whatever you have, you walk out, you walk on. There are no, not even the simple, you know, scanners that you walk through. And that is the majority of airplanes in the air at any given time.
“Now, I'm not talking about crop dusters. I'm talking about maybe some kind of King Airs but certainly jets. And they are the majority of the flights that are using our antiquated, you know, air traffic control system as we try to build a new one. They don't participate in this, they've done little things.
“But they are a very tight group and it's very easy for them to make phone calls to the Finance committee and to this committee and shut down any effort to make them spend more money. Now they are doing a little bit more this year, but not much. Are you ready to take that on, because nobody else has been?”
Pistole: “Thank you Mr. Chairman. As you've confirmed, I would look forward to engaging the General Aviation community in terms of what they see as the best approach in terms of risk management, recognizing that they have a vested interest in a certain process. Also recognizing that threats can come from General Aviation aircraft such as we saw in February with the IRS building in Austin, Texas.
“We know of other terrorist groups who have expressed interest, as you mentioned in crop dusters, different things. So, if it's a vulnerability that's not been addressed, that's what I want to make a determination of and then looking forward to working with you and the committee to find ways forward to address those issues.”
Senator: “So, that is a strong yes answer?”
Pistole: “That is a yes.”
Senator: “You will not, years from now, have failed to address that and change the behavior of General Aviation?”
Pisotole: “Yeah.”
Senator: “Remember that they can make phone calls and boy when they make phone calls, everybody just bows down except me and some few others here, um, and goes away, and it's unfair, it's an unjust matter. I'll leave my other question and turn the chair over to Sen. Dorgan. And I thank you and I will certainly be voting for you.”
I think the key takeaway for pilots is that your phone calls and letters to Congress are effective. I’ve long argued that pilots will need to become even more active in the future to protect their flying privileges. If you’ve never phoned or written a legislator, make a promise to yourself now to do so the next time you see a threat to General Aviation.
The threats can come from many directions. For example, last week, I was involved in rallying pilots and flight instructors to contact regulators and legislators regarding a new California law that will charge large fees that, if unchanged, will put many flight schools and independent flight instructors out of business. Coincidentally, while writing this article, I received an email from a flight school owner in Kentucky who received a letter from the TSA asking that all active flight instructors register with them! I’ll pass along an update when I know more about that. In the meantime, please commit to making phone calls and sending letters to your legislators in support of GA!
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