Stupid TSA Rulings
Saw this post about alien flight training on the AOPA website this week and am very disappointed. As they explain, the TSA has issued a “final interim ruling” (surely an oxymoron) stating that from October 20th any non US-citizen wishing to undertake any kind of flight training in the USA has to pay a $130 fee, send in fingerprints, photos etc and be approved. And not just once, but every time you want to take a training: the biennial review, an instrument proficiency check, a checkout in a new plane and so on.
I agree with the intent, lets keep a close eye on who might be wanting to fly in the skies, but its been proven time and time again then a Cessna 172 can do very little damage when used a weapon. Even filled with explosives it would cause less damage than driving a rental truck filled with same into a building.
As a resident alien I’ve already been approved by the USCIS, vetted by the FBI, CIA and who knows who else, submitted photos, fingerprints and deemed to bea suitable resident of the US of A. Its just crazy then that now I have to go through the same process to learn to fly, or to improve my safety through further training.
Hopefully common sense will prevail but as it stands, starting Oct 20th, all flight instructors in the US will have to check that their students are US citizens or aliens approved to take the training, keep records of this information under penalty of fines and jail time. I think many of them will give up, and many legally resident foreigners like myself will be taking a lot less training.