Transportation Safety Board Admiral Stone

The Transportation Safety Administration has amended parts of new alien flight training rule and apparently is taking the side of terrorists. An organization called the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (www.AOPA.org) has been hounding them to change the rules. At this point they are happy but feel it is "only a start...many more changes needed".
Today there are more than 85,000 “alien” pilots registered in the United States. That is 85,000 foreign nationals that hold pilot licenses are actively flying around our country. They have access to every airport in the nation and all they have to do is contact the control tower and tell them they are going to land. AOPA even had Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief David M. Stone provide a song and dance for them at a recent “Expo”.
In its original rule, TSA mandated that all 635,000 U.S. certificated pilots — including some 85,000 resident aliens — have their identification and citizenship verified and recorded, among other onerous provisions. Flight reviews and aircraft checkouts for pilots with a U.S. certificate don't now require citizenship verification. The original date for complying with this rule was, October 20, 2004 but nothing has been done to instruct the country's 88,000 Certified Flight Instructors about collecting and filing the information.
The TSA decided to delay the compliance for pilots (including aliens) currently holding an FAA certificate and let it slide until December 20, 2004. All “new” aliens receiving training in the United States for the first time must comply with the rule now. Flight instructors must verify a "candidate's" citizenship status prior to providing any kind of flight training, including flight reviews, in aircraft weighing 12,500 pounds or less but they are not doing it. They are complaining through their organization that it’s too much work to verify that they are not training a potential mass murderer. They have forced the weak-kneed TSA to change the rule regarding "citizenship validation".
Previously, it required proof of U.S. citizenship for virtually any time an instructor was involved with a flight. Now, after AOPA's efforts, only when an individual is training to receive a new rating or certificate do they need to prove their U.S. citizenship. The AOPA has also coerced the TSA into changing the record-keeping requirements for flight instructors and flight schools. The first version of the rule required that flight instructors keep copies of a pilot's proof of citizenship (passport, birth certificate, social security card, etc.) for five years.
The revised rule now requires that flight instructors review the pilot's citizenship documents and note in the pilot's logbook that the flight instructor has determined that the pilot is a U.S. citizen and eligible to receive flight instruction. That’s all. Just a note in a logbook that may or may not be stuck under a desk somewhere. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), has also interfered and asked the TSA for an additional 90-day deferral.
The AOPA claims that "These requirements are absurd. They place an unfair burden on the flight instructor to do a job that rightly belongs to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS) and TSA," said Boyer. "Flight instructors aren't trained to be document inspectors like a border guard, nor should they be expected to be mug-shot photographers." The AOPA is insisting on teaching any one, any where, any time, any thing about flying planes without having flight instructors take responsibility for what they are doing.
It is as if dynamite distributors started to complain because they needed to certify that their customers had the proper licenses and clearance before they sold the explosives to them. It is as if a bank association started to complain because they had to certify against money laundering.
Shouldn’t the AOPA President register himself as an agent of foreign national interests. They have posted a special email address on their website - : mailto:tsaquestions@aopa.org that is to be used by AOPA members to harass Rear Admiral Stone with objections to the TSA activities.
What decision will we make as a nation? Are we going to conduct our business in a way that safeguards our citizens or are we going to let special interest groups like AOPA and hotheads like Representative Mica continue to trample on the safety and security of our nation?
Are we going to stand by while this cash rich and well connected special interest group railroad Rear Admiral Stone?
If so, their gain is our loss.