Smile! Your Picture Will Soon Be On You Flying Ticket
After several months of contentious
debate, Congress has sent the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism
Prevention Act to President Bush. The bill implements many of the
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and creates a director of
national intelligence.
And buried within the huge bill is a provision requiring the FAA
to start issuing improved pilot certificates within a year. The
pilot certificates must be resistant to tampering and
counterfeiting, include a photo of the pilot, and may have the
capability to store biometric information.
"We worked closely with key members of Congress to make sure
that these new requirements don't impose an undue burden on GA
pilots," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Adding a pilot's picture
to the license has been debated for a long time, we wanted to make
sure pilots don't have to travel long distances to make this
happen."
The bill allows the FAA to use designees to process the new
certificates "to the extent feasible in order to minimize the
burdens on pilots."
"The allowance for designees means that an aviation medical
examiner could take a digital photo of the pilot as part of the
exam and transmit the photo to the FAA along with the medical
data," said Andy Cebula, AOPA senior vice president of Government
and Technical Affairs. AMEs already send exam results to the FAA
electronically. "Senators Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Pat
Roberts of Kansas were willing to listen to AOPA about the
realities of general aviation and modify the legislation to
increase national security while minimizing the impact on pilots,"
Cebula added.
The bill does not require pilots to immediately replace existing
certificates with new photo certificates. Pilots would likely get a
photo certificate when they add a new rating or certificate.
AOPA also lobbied against a requirement that renter pilots be
screened against a terrorist watch list. That effort was
successful.
"Cross-checking pilot lists against terrorist watch lists can be
helpful," said Cebula, "but the government simply does not have the
system in place to reliably, accurately, and efficiently vet the
name of every pilot every time they go to rent an aircraft.
"Congress accepted our argument that
such a provision would have placed a huge burden on pilots and FBOs
without any significant security improvement."
Congress had also considered at one point mandating a security
check of every passenger in a general aviation aircraft. AOPA
pointed out that, unlike on a commercial aircraft, GA pilots know
the people in the airplane.
Congress decided that if the Department of Homeland Security
develops an "advanced passenger prescreening function" it could be
applied to people flying in chartered aircraft weighing more than
12,500 pounds. Anyone trying to lease a large aircraft could also
be subject to the screening process.
The bill also directs the Department of Homeland Security to
establish a fair appeals process so that anyone placed on the
terrorist watch list can contest the information.
The bill is considered the most sweeping reform of the US
intelligence apparatus since the creation of the Central
Intelligence Agency in 1947. In addition to creating a director of
national intelligence with authority over 15 intelligence agencies,
the bill contains numerous provisions affecting transportation,
primarily commercial airline travel.