… But GA Airport Security Is OK

As for security protocols at your local GA airport, the general feeling at the TSA is that the voluntary guidelines are working. “These guidelines were the end result of a truly collaborative effort among many industry groups, and they were all agreed to 100 percent,” said Steven Calabro, GA security inspector. “Our aim was to establish federal guidelines so airports could know they were on the right track, and know what the feds would give a thumbs-up to.” The working group also aimed to prevent a mishmash of state laws from being enacted locally. “Our anecdotal evidence is that GA airports are compliant overall, and are even going beyond the guidelines,” Calabro said. The TSA staffers agreed that there are no plans in the works to develop stricter oversight or make the guidelines mandatory. However, individual states could still come up with laws of their own to affect GA security, or write the guidelines into law. “The states can do whatever is legal for them to do,” Albracht said, “but [the] TSA is not going to do that.” In any case, Calabro is the only GA Security Inspector the TSA has. Look for him at the TSA exhibit at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh this summer.