Fri, Sep 09, 2011
Will Help Facilitate Renewed Cockpit Training For ATC
Personnel
After a ten-year pause, U.S. Air Traffic
Controllers will once again be allowed into the cockpits of
commercial airline flights to observe operations under a renewed
Flight Deck Training program of the FAA. Following recent
discussions with the FAA Academy, ARINC Incorporated has agreed to
enhance its widely used CASS Cockpit Access Security System to
include screening of Air Traffic Controllers as well as pilots.
Controllers have not had access to jumpseats since the
FAA’s original Flight Deck Training (FDT) Program was
discontinued following the events of 9/11/2001. Most domestic
airlines use the ARINC CASS system to verify the status of pilots
flying in the jumpseat on U.S. domestic flights. The change will
allow Controllers to ride in cockpit jumpseats to familiarize
themselves with cockpit operations during a flight. “The
voluntary jumpseat program will provide a valuable training
perspective which Controllers cannot obtain otherwise.” said
Tim Ryan, ARINC Director of New Service Development. “We are
pleased to help the FAA re-introduce this educational
program.”
The change to ARINC’s CASS security system
is also a milestone for ARINC’s related service, CrewPASS.
The CrewPASS Service is now capable of permitting non-crewmembers
to clear airport security as trusted travelers. “ARINC
expects more system changes will be requested to meet the growing
needs of the FAA and government agencies,” adds Ryan.
“The natural extension of this program will enable other
trusted Government travelers—FAA Inspectors, Air Marshals,
federal, state, and local law enforcement officers—to
participate in the ARINC CrewPASS expedited screening program
currently offered to flight deck crewmembers.”
CrewPASS was developed by ARINC in response to a 2007
Congressional mandate for expedited TSA screening of airline pilots
and crewmembers. It is currently in operational testing at
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI),
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), and Columbia Metropolitan
Airport (CAE) in Columbia, South Carolina. Pilots from 61 airlines
are participating. TSA officers are able to verify their identities
using CrewPASS in less than 8 seconds, allowing them to have
secure, expedited boarding.
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