This is not good.
They'll be checking you before you get in your car soon....

http://www.charterx.com/resources/article.aspx?id=7838

You have got to be kidding me. This is a hoax, right? According to google <fwiw>. Talon Air seems to be legit... but this?? ...? An entire TSA presence at a private facility to allegedly protect private charter passengers from themselves?!? How has it been determined that these clients are in fact "excited" about these expanded services? There are some certain ironies here methinks... Shall we count the ways?


Talon Air's private jet facility approved for TSA screening
09-Feb-2011

Talon Air, New York's most comprehensive private jet charter company, now offers its customers non-stop service from their executive jet terminal at Republic Airport (FRG) to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Washington, DC. This expanded service was made possible after the Talon Air facility was granted approval after a recent Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspection. The TSA will now screen travelers in Talons private lounge prior to boarding their private aircraft.

�It's great having the TSA finally at our facility,� said Bill Sivori, Talon Air's TSA Security Specialist. �Our clients are very excited about the expanded service and we are happy to have an increased Homeland Security presence at our facility.�

As a DCA Gateway, Republic Airport is connecting local Long Island businesses with the Washington, DC community. Under the DCA Access Standard Security Program (DASSP), approved private jet operators may conduct charter flights into and out of DCA. The DASSP requires advanced qualification and background checks of crews, TSA inspection of crew and passengers, and baggage screening, among other requirements.

One of the most significant requirements is that an approved and armed law enforcement officer must be on board the private jet during each flight. These law enforcement officers are trained and certified by the TSA. Operators who fly into DCA must arrive from an approved portal airport such as Republic Airport (FRG). The portal airports are spread across the U.S., with a heavier concentration in the Northeast.

To learn more about Talon Air's services and charter fleet or to request a charter quote to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), visit http://www.TalonAirJets.com or call +1 (631) 753.8881.

Skip the searching. Require a background check to fly private aircraft. There's no constitutional right to fly your own plane. If the government takes the position that a private plane is a potential danger to society, they've the obligation to insure no one takes the control of one who is unsafe in it.

<sigh> There's a whole lot of vehicles on those roadways down below that do a lot more damage to society than I could ever do with my little light weight aerobatic craft. The FAA has determined that I am safe to fly within the parameters of my airman certificate and earned ratings and I am expected to comply or lose my privileges (or worse). I conduct my own pre-flight inspections, I determine my own safety and conduct my own flight to ensure the safety of others.

There is no constitutional right to drive a vehicle of any sort. Require a background check to drive cattle. Save us all from the rampant BS*.

Would everyone just calm down. This isn't just random entry into the GA sector (yet). As the article itself states, charter flights to KDCA require special screening procedures from special "portal" airports. Though the tsa wants to get their grubby hands into GA, this shouldn't be seen as a significant step there, stuff like this has been in place for a while now I think.

Loops misses a poiint is trying to construct an analogy. There is far more access to targets from the air than there is from a landbound vehicle. Now they could arm sensitive sites with antiaircraft to blast planes out of the air that fail to divert, but how popular would that be?

I think it comes down to a simple question. Will we take steps to secure potential targets or not? I've seen some people who've never met a security measure they like. The government will never satisfy them unless it ceases and desists from every activity to make things secure. To them, nuclear power plants are fine as they are, no one could possible want to explode one. Sports crowds? Totally safe. Shopping malls? Impregnable.

The international terror networks must just love all such people. The "clueless infidel".

Actually terror networks love TSA and the "anything for security clowns".

TSA and DHS are the only things that empower terror networks.

why? because they know that if they move their pinkie finger, we'll over-react and start chopping pinkie fingers off innocent people.

TSA has become a tool of the terror networks to terrorize you and I.

Bolding mine. Excuse me while I go puke.

Fortunately, the government has not taken the position that GA aircraft pose such a threat.

GA aircraft are unsuitable for mass destruction, Al Quaida does not have a military Air Force and Kamikazi pilots are a dying breed.

This particular matter is about flying GA into DCA. The program was supposed to open DCA up, but in fact it's resulted in almost no GA traffic to DCA. Privately/corporately owned GA isn't a threat - the TSA's concern is about charter traffic. Most CEOs won't fly into DCA because of the hassle of the airline-style passenger search and the TSA requirement to have an armed security officer watching them onboard. Far easier to go to Dulles.

For GA folks with smaller aircraft, DCA is simply not an option. But there are 3 airports (CGS, VKX, W32) that are in the flight restricted zone. All pilots that have approval to fly into those airports have to pass a SIDA background check and follow certain flight-plan requirements. No armed officers, no baggage screening.

The DCA requirements are overkill for most GA flights where the passengers are carefully chosen and known to the owner/crew.

And by the way, all US pilots undergo watch-list checks and other checks done by FAA and TSA via the FAA database.

So the people that live in the area of DCA are more important than everyone else?

I was going to email Savori a nastygram, but there is no 'contact us' or email link on their entire website.

I think this was done only because the flights are operating to/from DCA - which has heavy GA restrictions, and requires(d) the GA flight carry a FAM at all times.

The proper PR approach here is to acknowledge they are approved to offer charter ops to/from DCA, however in accordance with federal regulations, all passengers will be subject to security screening in the lounge before departure - the a$$ kissing statement from Savori was not necessary and is a total turnoff.

I think this might actually do some good. Think of who flies on these flights. Let a surly smurf grope somebody like George Soros or Warren Buffett, imagine the fallout. These guys have Obama on speed dial.

^^

Actually, you are quite correct. I've read the constitution very carefully and there is no right to fly your own airplane. Or drive your own car, or ride your own horse, or drive a ski boat on your own lake.

However, that very same constitution in Article I Section 8 has a list of things the government is allowed to do.
It can borrow money, an activity it has perfected beyond belief;
It can tax to pay back the money it borrows (or not--pay back that is);
It can regulate commerce between nations and between the states;
It can coin money and punish counterfiters;
It can construct post roads; establish patent laws; declare wars;
It can establish armies and navies and courts inferior to the supreme court;
It can even call for the Militia to put down insurrection and repel invaders, which basically means you and me;
It can govern the District of Columbia.

No, I've searched and searched and I can find no constitutional right to fly, drive, pilot a boat, or even walk across the street.

You and others who repeat that phrase are right on the mark. "There is no constitutional right ..." to do anything at all. Not even breath. Didn't see it in the document. And it's a document I've studied since I was in 6th grade. But Congress cannot take away your right to breath without following a very explicit and strict procedure detailed in the 4th and 5th amendments, and certainly not for exercising a right to talk and assemble and petition.

On the other hand, that list above, Article II Section 8 is an all encompassing list of things the government can do. I read it over several times and I simply have been unable to find out where the government has any right to restrict my ability to fly an airplane. I simply cannot find it. Perhaps my reading skills are failing me, but it is a relatively simple document.

Where does it say that Congress is allowed to make laws to restrict a private citizen from going about his lawful business, that the Executive Branch may carry out and make regulations and enforce? Please help me here, because I cannot see it. Congress is not allowed to make a law, and the executive is not allowed to make regulations beyond what the constitution allows. It really is simple. Otherwise, our constitution would be bigger than the IRS code with what is, and what is not allowed to individuals. Those powers are left to the states, or to the people. The constitution but a limited grant of powers to the government, from the people it is to serve.

Oh, and by the way, FAR 61.18 does require a background check and approval by the TSA for pilot certificate issuances (14 CFR 61.18)

The government in fact, has taken precisely the opposite position. Thus, by your reasoning, the government should rightfully revoke FAR 61.18.

In 2009, in response to a request from the TSA's favorite fan, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, the DHS Inspector General issued a report. This report observed that general aviation accounts for 77% of our air traffic. and stated Richard Skinner, the DHS IG concluded his report with It seems to me that the government has researched and based on that research concluded that general aviation is not a threat.

And you can better believe they have.

Ever been inside a nuclear reactor? Ever tried to get into one? As far back as the 1970s I worked in a nuclear reactor. There were very interesting and rigorous security precautions then. I am sure there are much more rigorous precautions now. Know what happens if you fly a fully loaded, fully fueled general aviation airplane into the containment building of a power reactor? It might leave a scorch mark on it. Power reactors create copious amounts of neutrons when they are running. They must be shielded to prevent surrounding areas from being exposed to radiation, and the cheapest shielding available is concrete. Not just any concrete, but high density concrete. Lots and lots of high density concrete. As for the airplane, any airplane, it will bounce off and by the time the fuel is burned, there will be nothing left but some oxidized flakes of aluminum foil. ...and the scorch mark on the intact concrete surface of the containment building.

In fact the DHS-IG has studied this issue at length and after considerable study has taken the position that they are not a threat.