US GA proposal

[Lister Noble]

CongressWeb - Issue Information (http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=nata&issue=34)

I picked this up from a US Cub site.
The USA is proposing that GA pilots carry some sort of ID if operating from a commercial passenger airfield.
It could affect a lot of GA pilots if introduced here,as we seem to follow the US in most things,we need to keep an eye out for this.
Lister

[172driver]

Already the case in Australia

[BackPacker]

Does that really make a practical difference?

My (UK CAA issued) JAA License doesn't contain a picture so it is only valid together with some sort of official picture ID. Drivers license, passport, ID card or whatever.

Apart from the fact that EU legislation calls for IDs to be carried at all times anyway.

=============

Edited: I now read the article and it seems to me the OP didn't summarize its significance properly. What the article describes is a TSA measure requiring airports to issue specific airport IDs to all people that regularly need unescorted access to certain areas (as described in the article and other TSA directives).

Yep, that's a measure that's already being implemented in the EU. In fact my home base airport (Rotterdam) has tried that too for our little out-of-the-way GA apron, until we reminded them of the practical problems and cost associated with issuing and administering all these IDs (800+ members). They got around it by defining "airside" into a number of different zones, and our "zone" has slightly relaxed security rules from the zone where the 737s normally park - pilots in our zone just have to have some form of ID on them and your license plus some form of picture ID will suffice.

[Wrong Stuff]

I don't think this represents any change for European pilots. We're supposed to have been carrying passports for the past seven years:

(1) 14 CFR 61.3(a) is amended to require each person to carry a photo identification when exercising the privileges of a pilot certificate.

The FAA revises 14 CFR 61.3(a) to require each person to carry a photo identification when exercising the privileges of a pilot certificate. The photo identification in most instances likely will be a driver's license issued by a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States. It may also be a government identification card issued by the Federal government or a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States, a military identification card, or a passport. Under this rule, a credential with a photo issued by an air carrier or airport operator that provides unescorted access to a security identification display area at an airport regulated under 49 CFR part 1542 is acceptable. The rule also permits other forms of photo identification that the Administrator finds acceptable.

Note that a European driving license doesn't count and nor does your Blockbuster card. For Europeans, excepting the rare people who have some form of US government or military photo ID, the only qualifying document is a passport.

[Justiciar]

I don't see the problem with having photo ID and I can't understand why current licences don't have one. The old pre CAA licences did have a photo, so in some respects the current scrappy pieces of paper issued to pilots have gone back a step.

[Genghis the Engineer]

On page 3, my JAA PPL says "A document containing a photo shall be carried for the purposes of identification of the licence holder".

I've always just kept an out of date IDP in my PPL wallet, it fits nicely.

G

[mm_flynn]

The original problem in the US was that it was an airport specific card. So you would need a plane full of ID cards or mandatory handling ( that is no unescorted access airside).

The impact, translated in to a European context, would be places like LFAT and Lydd would need to introduce handling for all visiting aircraft. In addition, this is a specific TSA vetting process and ID card.

Carrying ID in and of itself is not unreasonable. It is possibly even necessary to security vet all pilots, but to go through this whole overhead and only have it apply to one airport is totally disproportionate to the risk.

[BackPacker]

but to go through this whole overhead and only have it apply to one airport is totally disproportionate to the risk.

On the other hand, if it's a central vetting process leading to one ID card througout the country (the EU possibly), then this ID card would give every private pilots license holder (who passes the checks) unrestricted and unescorted access to the Heathrow apron as well. (Probably as long as you can claim a more or less credible reason when someone asks.)

I've always wondered about how this works for commercial pilots who need access to their planes via jetways and such in airports across the world. They seem to have one of those magic passes that open all doors.

[1800ed]

The FAA licence is a plastic card? Does it not already have a photograph on it; or would that have been too sensible to have been included...

[LH2]

this ID card would give every private pilots license holder (who passes the checks) unrestricted and unescorted access to the Heathrow apron as well

I'll disregard for a moment the fact that the subject of this thread is total fantasy (for now anyway), to describe the working of the airport IDs that I'm familiar with.

In Spain, AENA-run airports have an ID system which gives access to different areas of a single airport.

Essentially, firemen and the airport manager have unrestricted access to all areas, while everyone else is restricted to one or more specific areas only, e.g., administrative staff do not have airside access, and airside workers do not have automatic access to the office areas.

Each airport has its own ID, so depending on what you do, you could have an ID from more than one airport, or more than one ID for a specific airport.

Pilots are never required to have an airport ID. What is needed is a pilot's licence, some form of official ID, and if going airside, proof of a good reason for being there--this usually takes the form of either a stamped copy of your flight plan, or you just tell them your aircraft's registration number (which they cross-check with what is parked on the apron). This is more to do with safety than security btw, as apparently it's relatively common for PPLs and others to go planespotting airside :rolleyes: (this according to a Guardia Civil I was chatting with once).

However, should you wish to have an airport ID it is certainly possible to get one as a based pilot. All you need is a letter from your employer or flight school, etc., and usually it only takes about ten minutes. It has two big advantages: free parking and discount at the airport cafeteria (or access to the even cheaper airport canteen where available). The ID itself is of course free of all cost.

So there you go, FWIW. I am of course not endorsing Orwellian-style IDs such as the stuff authorities in the UK have wet dreams about. In fact I am not endorsing IDs at all, although at the same time I have nothing against the system run by AENA as described above. At least it's straightforward and you get some perks.

[Genghis the Engineer]

On the other hand, if it's a central vetting process leading to one ID card througout the country (the EU possibly), then this ID card would give every private pilots license holder (who passes the checks) unrestricted and unescorted access to the Heathrow apron as well. (Probably as long as you can claim a more or less credible reason when someone asks.)

I've always wondered about how this works for commercial pilots who need access to their planes via jetways and such in airports across the world. They seem to have one of those magic passes that open all doors.

I have one of those for my work.

It's actually a company specific card, and there are individual recognitions of that card at the airports we are using at any given time - if we stop operating from airport X, then the validity of that card stops immediately.

There is no such universal card - would be a lovely thing to own, but just doesn't exist.

G

[Maoraigh1]

From reading the online GJ Sentinell, the TSA in Colorado are proposing airport specific identification, if the airport has scheduled services. GA is up in arms. An air taxi pilot would need an escort if he landed at an airport for which he did not have a badge. And as much use is made of airports out of hours, this could be very limiting. The position of en-route pilots stopping to refuel at card operated pumps has also been raised.
This is totally different from the EU situation, where one airside badge seems to suffice.

[mm_flynn]

This is totally different from the EU situation, where one airside badge seems to suffice.Actually where a modest handling fee of 50-100 Euros ( available 9-6 m-s, extra fees on Sunday, out of hours, night, if you actually want anything) solves the problem of unescorted access airside. American's just have no sense of humour - they expect to be able to rock up to an airport at 10:00 at night, shoot a LPV GPS approach to 250 ft, 7 clicks on the mic for the airport lights and borrow the FBOs car to get to a hotel - all in exchange for a fuel uplift.

[C-dog]

The FAA licence is a plastic card? Does it not already have a photograph on it; or would that have been too sensible to have been included...

Got my new $2 FAA plastic PPL a couple of months ago, replacing my 1981 vintage paper one.

Yup, you've guessed it. No photograph needed.

C-dog

[flybymike]

AOPA Air Crew card has photo ID and is generally recognised everywhere.

[youngskywalker]

My FAA ticket does have a picture on it...'the Wright brothers'

[BackPacker]

AOPA Air Crew card has photo ID and is generally recognised everywhere.

Interesting. As far as I know AOPA is a completely private organization which doesn't do background checks on its members in any shape or form. As such, an ID issued by them is about as valuable as the McDonalds Frequent Visitor card.

The only thing it does is identify you as a member of AOPA and therefore the likely holder of some sort of pilots license somewhere in the past.

So if this card gives you access to security sensitive areas which would otherwise have been closed to you, then there's something fundamentally wrong with the security at that place. Proper security should not be a game of "bluff your way through the gate by showing lots of paperwork".

[deltayankee]

Backpacker: I think that this post meant that the AOPA card is accepted as a photo ID to accompany some other photo-less document, not that it in itself gives access to secure areas.

[C-dog]

SoCal,

Appreciate the photo ID requirement in FAR 61.3, but wouldn't it have been neat if the FAA had included the photo requirement when they introduced the plastic licence?

Mind you there would probably then be a need to renew more often, same as passports or US driving licences.

[IO540]

The UK driving license also has a photo nowadays.

Is that OK for flying an N-reg?

I vaguely recall that a UK passport was the only document meeting the combination of FARs that is applicable in this case.