Third-Party Appeals Allowed…
It’s been almost a year since the federal government gave itself the power to, without any familiar due process, lift the airman certificates of those deemed “security risks” — and now a whiff of civil rights has entered the picture. The FAA and TSA have implemented a third-party appeal process for those who get caught in the security dragnet. “It’s in effect now,” FAA spokesman Greg Martin told AVweb. The new regulations, which were mandated by the recently approved FAA Reauthorization Bill, ensure the Transportation Safety Administration isn’t the judge, jury and executioner in deciding who gets to fly and fix airplanes in the U.S. As AVweb reported, the “Ineligibility for an Airman Certificate Based on Security Grounds” rule caught the aviation industry and even aviation regulators off-guard when it was introduced and instantly enacted on Jan. 24, 2003. The rule was implemented in advance of the customary 90-day comment period, angering industry leaders. But what chilled them even more was the fact that the TSA became the sole arbiter of security-related revocations. The TSA implemented the revocations (through the FAA) and the TSA also heard the appeals of its own actions.
