The advance of the TSA

[MichaelP]

Here's a touchy subject for us to consider, and it is the role of the TSA in what we once could call a democracy with freedom.

On the news about the Buffalo crash the reporters were as much concerned about what the TSA had to say as they were about what the NTSB might.
There is a culture of fear being created that is steadily empowering the TSA which itself is slowly increasing restrictions on travel into the USA.
Are we seeing an emerging 'secret service' in the line of such organisations that caused war and revolution and against which freedom has been fought for?

I worry.
This morning I wrote another letter to approve an instructor to take one of our aircraft across the border.
I myself have to go through more process than anyone who is Canadian... I consider Britain to be an ally of the USA, but one might wonder sometimes...

There's a move to put people who fly business aircraft through the same procedures as airlines... I can see the logic of this.
Then it will be us.
We already have to fax our passenger lists across the border, and give them an hour's notice.

We file flight plans if we have to cross the border 4 miles south of here else we get intercepted... It's a bit like crossing into East German Airspace... Are we going to see an ADIZ between Canada and the USA?

I was shocked when a British registered aircraft flew the Altantic and then was stuck in Maine. He needed TSA permission to fly to another airport in the USA and this could take up to two weeks to obtain.
He re-registered the aircraft in the USA and regained the freedom of flight.
Are we seeing the same procedures that were required in Communist countries?

Maybe I will be put on some sort of black list for muting this subject at all... But I think the Americans should be advised of the feeling they are creating.

Are we losing something in the paranoia that the Americans are historically famous for?

[philknight29]

Michael,

There is no Paranoia there at all. I spent an hour or so in a dark room in Orlando when I returned to complete my flight training a few years ago. I'm British dragged up in Surrey who worked for the MOD as an Accountant and they seemed to think I was some sort of threat??? WTH.. They seem to be alienating everyone that they can.

Once you mention your entering the country to complete any type of training the SS march you off and use the rubber glove treatment. I think the problem they have with the UK is the complete lack of border control we have these days.

I don't think the USA has anything like Ally's anymore it's a "Them and US" Syndrome. And all this TSA stuff is rubbish, I just checked my training file with them and apparently I'm still doing my Instrument rating. Funny I finished that over 18 months ago. They seem like overzealous mall security who really don't know what they are doing but are pushing there way into every aspect of peoples lives.

Phil

[V1 Rotate]

I agree. One of the freedoms that people living behind the Iron Curtain envied was the freedom of travel. It is one of those "Inalienable Rights" that we are entitled to. Organizations such as TSA and CATSA do their best to curtail this freedom. I've read about the recent proposed changes south of the border regarding "security" and business travel. It is a scary proposition. It also make almost no sense at all.

Aircraft that would be subject to airline type screening would start at and above 12 500 lbs GTOW. It's an arbitrary line made up post WW2 when such aircraft were considered "large". Under this rule, passengers of a private King Air 350 would undergo the TSA rape, while ones boarding a Citation Jet would not. Are they proposing posting TSA goons and their equipment at all FBOs? Who would pay for this?

Corporate and Business aviation would lose most of its advantages if it became subject to these rules. The ridiculous restrictions against gels and liquids would also apply. I just don't see how on a corporate aircraft, which are usually the pride of the company that owns them, someone unknown could board.

I hope this time around the people with the money; the ones that benefit from bizav use their clout to stop these moronic developments.

[MichaelP]

192 views and two responses...

That's a statement in itself.
Are people too scared to comment?

I think we need to be careful.

[Old Dog Flying]

The really scarry part of all this is that if the LASP goes through, what's next...light aircraft! I just got my copy of Sport Aviation and there is a letter from a Spanish pilot who outlines what he has to go through just to fly a friend in his sport aircraft. He has to fax or email the authorities 24 hours in advance...no more than 24...give full details about the pax, wait for an authorization for the pax to fly then proceed to the little airport where he goes through TWO different screenings!

The TSA has everyone in the USA so frightened that the same thing will happen there then it is only a matter of time before the goons up here follow suit. It is all a matter of Empire building and outright power, and it is just like NAZI Germany in the mid-30s.