AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024 - 10

AOPA ACTION
TOP STORIES /
TSA finalizes flight training
A security program
OPA changes included in final plan
THE TRANSPORTAT ION SECUR I TY Administration has published
a final rule that codifies procedures in place for decades to scrutinize
foreign flight students. Rooted in the federal response to
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the new regulation
becomes, in effect, a coda to the story of 9/11 and general aviation.
In 2004, the TSA established screening requirements for
foreign nationals seeking flight training and required security
awareness staff for flight training providers.
In 2018, AOPA worked with TSA officials to update the interim
rule establishing what was then known as the Alien Flight Student
Program, welcoming revisions and a new round of public comment
on what was then still an interim rule.
The final rule makes the program permanent, incorporating
recent changes including the name: Flight Training Security
FAA returns airman
standards to regulation
THE FAA REASSURED flight instructors that checkride failures
will not trigger enforcement action, but AOPA and others voiced
concern that incorporating airman certification standards into
regulation will stifle innovation when it is needed more than ever.
While the FAA began moving away from codification of practical
test and certification standards in regulation in 1997, a final rule
published in April effectively turns back the clock, incorporating
(by reference) dozens of certification standards for pilots, mechanics,
and others into a single Part 61 regulation. This is exactly the
course of action that many sought to avoid, including AOPA and
fellow members of an FAA working group created to advise the
agency on the ongoing development of certification standards. The
rule was first proposed in 2022, following more than a decade of
work by the FAA and industry on modernizing the certification
standards that the new rule now incorporates.
In formal comments, AOPA and fellow members of the
Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee's Airman Certification
Standards Working Group voiced disappointment that many of the
changes proposed by the working group had not been incorporated
in the rulemaking proposal, and that the documents poised
to become regulations that can be changed only through a formal
rulemaking process were already outdated.
10
AOPA PILOT / July 2024
Program (FTSP). It refines the process that sees every foreign flight
training student assessed by the federal government to determine
if they pose a security threat. The new regulation takes effect July
30 and includes changes that AOPA sought. Flight training providers
will be required to complete the same initial security awareness
training before training foreign nationals, now followed by an
updated refresher course every two years, rather than annually. The
final rule also provides for electronic filing of required documentation
through the FTSP portal, and other recommendations from the
Aviation Security Advisory Committee, of which AOPA is a member.
AOPA Director of Airspace, Air Traffic, and Security Jim
McClay said the long-awaited, 160-page final rule is under
review, and AOPA will update online guidance for flight training
providers and prospective students.
New York City councilors
seek to curtail helicopter ops
A NEW AT TEMPT to restrict helicopter operations in New York
City-this time coming from the city council-drew a united front
of opposition from aviation groups including AOPA.
Several industry organizations mobilized to oppose proposed
New York City laws that would prohibit " non-essential " helicopter
operations at city-owned heliports. Both bills seek to achieve
what state lawmakers did not in 2022, when the same coalition of
advocates rallied to stop a state law designed to restrict helicopter
operations by allowing citizens to file frivolous lawsuits over noise.
" Enacting these types of laws would have a chilling effect on
private investment in aviation industries and infrastructure across
the city and state, " said AOPA Eastern Regional Manager Sean
Collins in written testimony. " In addition to the financial hardship
that banning 'non-essential helicopter' access would cause
for the three New York City heliports, New York would be labeled
hostile to the aviation community and its outcrop of growing
technology sectors. "
More online
Read more about these stories and the latest
from AOPA's advocacy team.
aopa.org/advocacy
http://www.aopa.org/advocacy
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024
