The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has welcomed the US House of Representatives’ passage of legislation that would strengthen and streamline security for general aviation and charter operators.
The Bill, entitled ‘Securing General Aviation and Commercial Charter Air Carrier Service Act of 2017’, was proposed by US representative for Kansas, Ron Estes. It would authorize the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to provide screening services to commercial charter operators in areas other than primary passenger terminals, if the carrier makes that request through the airport’s federal security director.
It would also require the TSA to provide Congress with an implementation plan for general aviation recommendations approved by the Aviation Security Advisory Council, and require the TSA to issue a report to Congress on the feasibility of requiring security threat assessments for all candidates seeking flight school training to operate any aircraft with a maximum certificated take-off weight of more than 12,500 lb (5,669kg) in order to increase vetting of such candidates.
Other points the legislation proposes include requiring the TSA to conduct a cost and feasibility study of establishing web-based access to the Secure Flight system for commercial charter operators, and authorizing the TSA to designate at least one employee to be responsible for issues and stakeholder engagement related to general aviation.
Ed Bolen, NBAA president and CEO, said, “We applaud Representative Estes for introducing this important legislation, which would provide much-needed streamlining of security for general aviation and commercial charter air carriers. The Bill would offer more flexibility to general aviation and charter operators, while also increasing security.”
The bill will now be given to the Senate for consideration.
