Aviation securityBill to tighten admission procedures to flight schools
A bill would require flight schools to check students, including U.S. citizens, against the terrorist watch list before they can be trained to fly aircraft of 12,500 pounds or more
Representative Benny Thompson (D-Mississippi), the ranking member of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, introduced a bill – H.R. 6159 – which aims to close gaping loophole in the manner in which candidates applying for commercial flight schools are vetted before being admitted.
The bill would require flight schools to check students, including U.S. citizens, against the terrorist watch list before they can be trained to fly aircraft of 12,500 pounds or more. Currently, only foreign-born aliens seeking flight training are vetted by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) before training can commence.
During hearing on 18 July, the House Committee on Homeland security held hearings on the admission process to American flight schools.
“Everyone, including U.S. Citizens, should be vetted against the No Fly List before beginning flight training,” Thompson said. “It’s commonsense, straightforward policy to close a security gap that inexplicably persists over a decade after 9/11.”
During the hearings, the committee heard that a recent GAO report found several flaws in the way flight schools handle admission applications, among them that some foreign nationals showed up in one database but not another, and that others had received training before undergoing a vetting process.
— Read more in Weaknesses Exist in TSA’s Process for Ensuring Foreign Flight Students Do Not Pose a Security Threat (GAO, 2012)
