Special report to CFIs on TSA citizenship rule

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AOPA ePilot Special Bulletin November 4, 2004
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AOPA is sending this special "ePilot" bulletin about the TSA's alien
flight training/citizenship verification rule to every CFI in the United
States who has provided us with an e-mail address. Please be sure to
share this important information with any other CFI who may not have
received it. AOPA urges FBOs and flight schools to post this notice in
a location where every CFI can access it.

The Transportation Security Administration's new alien flight training/
citizenship verification rule—which took effect October 20, 2004—has
generated enormous confusion and concern in the general aviation community.
AOPA has been working with the TSA as well as members of Congress to make
the rule more realistic while still achieving the TSA's objectives of
stopping aliens from using flight training they receive in the United States
as a weapon against us.

AOPA has created a resource center designed to keep you fully informed about
the changing interpretations and effects of this confusing and onerous rule,
and our efforts to improve it. AOPA has argued that the rule has been poorly
conceived, executed, and communicated; it clearly places an unreasonable
burden on CFIs and flight schools.

Please visit our guide to this rule at ( http://www.aopa.org/tsa_rule/ ) and
e-mail us at ( mailto:tsaquestions@aopa.org ) to share your questions and
concerns about the rule with AOPA. We will share your concerns with the TSA
and do our best to address them as part of our ongoing efforts to resolve
problems created by this rule.

AOPA also has made some important inroads with the TSA recently that we want
you to know about. Please see the following story, which also appears on our
Web site ( http://www.aopa.org ).


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AOPA to help TSA revise citizenship validation rule
Partnership aimed at ensuring appropriate GA security measures

The head of the TSA has made good on a promise to AOPA members. On Wednesday
Rear Adm. David Stone sat down with AOPA President Phil Boyer and senior
members of AOPA's Government & Technical Affairs (GTA) staff. The purpose of
the meeting: Get AOPA and TSA working together to ensure that security concerns
can be met without imposing onerous or ineffective regulations on general
aviation.

"It makes no sense for TSA, with all of its security knowledge, and AOPA,
with all of its knowledge of GA, to not work together," Boyer said at the
meeting. "That's obviously the best, most effective way for us to achieve
our common objectives of a safe country and a healthy and growing GA community."

Stone committed to the meeting two weeks ago in responding to a withering
barrage of questions from some of the 1,200 AOPA members who attended his
presentation at AOPA Expo in Long Beach, California. Many of the questions
centered on the so-called alien flight training/citizenship verification
rule that imposes a whole range of requirements on pilots seeking training
and their flight instructors.

"The GTA staff has made solid inroads on amending and clarifying this rule,"
said Boyer. "But what we really need to do is back up from the details and
get a macro understanding of what the TSA is trying to accomplish. And then
put the unique resources of AOPA to work to help them do it." TSA has recently
tried to amend the rule with piecemeal changes, such as exempting those
involved in glider and hot air balloon training from the rule's requirements.

Item one for Wednesday's meeting was to allow TSA to explain the underlying
risks the rule was intended to eliminate. TSA is operating under a
congressional mandate to increase security related to flight training and
authenticate any foreign student.

Stone summed up the TSA's overall direction as making sure "we never have
a repeat of 9/11." His overarching question: "How can we stop people from
using flight training they receive in the U.S. as a weapon against us? We
need to make sure it doesn't happen again." At the same time Stone indicated
a keen—and growing—sensitivity to the need to protect the fragile flight
training industry, the key to all future aviation from GA to the airlines.

Boyer and Stone discussed partnering to address three critical areas in the
rule: defining flight training, streamlining the TSA's citizenship validation
process, and simplifying the requirements for flight instructors.

Under this cooperative model, TSA would clearly define the types of flight
training that the rule is intended to address, with AOPA providing the detailed
understanding of GA and guidance on developing and implementing the program.
AOPA wants to take a similar approach to streamlining the citizenship
validation process in order to minimize the impact on current pilots--both
U.S. citizens and resident aliens.

For the nation's 88,728 flight instructors, AOPA is seeking immediate relief
from the confusion and burdensome requirements of the existing rule. "There
are more than 3,400 flight schools in the United States," noted Boyer.
"Concern and confusion currently reign. Our recent survey indicated only
one in 10 schools was aware of the rule. We cannot expect these people to
abandon their businesses to become agents of the government by certifying
applications and photographing alien students."

"Let me caution those immediately affected by the October 20 rule: This is
not going to happen overnight," continued Boyer. "We will work aggressively
with the TSA to fix the rule, because right now it's in chaos. We recognize
that it's not going to be a quick fix, as the TSA needs to comply with the
congressional mandate that 'made them do this.' And it is possible that
AOPA will need to go back to Congress in January to obtain relief from the
restrictive language."

"This meeting was the needed start to put things back on track. We look
forward to an effective partnership with Adm. Stone and his organization."