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TSA Proposed Rule Making – Large Aircraft Security Program

In October of 2008, the TSA released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that it said would “strengthen the security of general aviation by further minimizing the vulnerability of aircraft being used as weapons or to transport dangerous materials or people.” The Large Aircraft Security Program is intended to require operators of any aircraft over 12,500 pounds maximum takeoff weight, to implement a security program that would be audited by the TSA. The proposed regulation would also require passengers on the aircraft to be verified against the governments No Fly or terrorist watch list.

At first glance, there are several issues that stand out with the proposed rulemaking. The first is large aircraft with a max takeoff weight (MTOW) of 12,500 pounds. In order to put a “Large Aircraft” of 12,500 MTOW in perspective, let’s look at the following:

A Learjet 35A has an MTOW of 17,000lbs.
A Learjet 45 has an MTOW of 20,200lbs.
A Learjet 60 has an MTOW of 23,500lbs.
A Beechjet 200 has an MTOW of 16,000lbs.
A King Air 200 has an MTOW of 12,500lbs.
A King Air 300/350 has an MTOW of 15,000lbs.
A Hawker 800 has an MTOW of 28,000lbs.
A Citation 560 has an MTOW of 16,630lbs.

Under the TSA’s proposed regulations, any flight departments operating the type of aircraft above would be required to hire a security coordinator and implement a security program. These aircraft are not often operated by large corporate flight departments, many are operated by small departments that employee 3 or 4 people. The new regulation would place a huge financial burden on these departments in order to comply.

The second issue has to do with verifying passengers against a No Fly or terrorist watch list. Unlike the airlines, general aviation passengers are often friends, relatives or co-workers of the other passengers on the aircraft. Corporate flight departments know a wealth of information about the passengers they are carrying, right down to the specific brand of cashews they like. As up surd as that sounds its true, these passengers are utilizing the aircraft to carry out important business and in the down times between meetings, the crew wants them to be as comfortable as possible so they are ready to go at the next stop. When you board a corporate aircraft you are not sitting with 100 other people who all have different motives for their trip. You are sitting with 5-10 people who know each other and all have a common goal in the end. Get the job done quickly, effectively and get home in enough time to tuck the kids in.

Finally, the last issue has to do with weapons in the cabin. The TSA has proposed to ban objects in the cabin that could be used as a weapon. Almost all of the aircraft listed above have a baggage area somewhere in the main cabin. As an example, the Hawker 800 and the King Air 350 both have baggage compartments easily accessible by the passengers in flight. A company decides it would like to make some type of deal with another company. As part of the weekend of business meetings, the group decides they would like to play a round of golf. However, now under the proposed TSA regulation, the executives 9 iron is considered a lethal weapon. You can axe that round of golf because the TSA says no golf clubs on the plane. This seems like a crazy unlikely, but if the TSA approves the regulation it will become a reality.

The TSA is currently offering a comment period on the proposed regulation. You can submit comments electronically at www.regulations.gov follow the online instructions for submitting comments. You can read the proposed rule at http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/nprm_lasp.pdf

I urge everyone who reads this article to comment on the TSA’s proposed rule.

While this rule as written will only affect aircraft over 12,500lbs, if accepted it’s only a matter of time until they decide a Cessna 172 is also terrorist weapon. The fight against the proposed rule has begun. You can read about reaction from the General Aviation community at http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/OPP0111209.xml&headline=TSA%20Large%20Aircraft%20Security%20Program%20Attacked&channel=busav

Ralph K. Johnson, News Services

Business Aviation Training.com