GA Security Advisory group meets

The TSA kicked off a two-day meeting of the General Aviation Working Group of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC) March 9. The committee is tasked with examining areas of GA security and providing recommendations to TSA and the full committee.

During the morning session, TSA officials asked members to identify the top areas of concern that the working group should focus on, stressing the need to identify not only short-term issues but also issues that will impact what GA security looks like in five to 10 years, according to officials with the Airport Association of Airport Executives, who attended the meeting. They report the working group identified five focus areas: 1) Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs); 2) GA Incident Management; 3) Interagency Communication (especially in regards to Customs and Border Protection); 4) GA Grant Program; and 5) GA Credentials and Access to Airports.

The working group then broke into smaller focus groups to discuss these issues. Each focus group will develop a white paper with recommendations on solutions to improve GA security for consideration by the GA Working Group, the full ASAC and TSA.

AAAE officials noted that TSA officials stated at the beginning of the meeting that because of the legal constraints of the formal rulemaking process, the working group will not discuss TSA’s proposed Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP), which is expected to be released again this year as a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM). LASP has stirred controversy in the GA community, as it fights against the onerous regulations, which would impose airline-type security on GA airplanes.

For more information: TSA.gov or AAAE.org