The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will impose new aviation
security measures aimed at preventing terrorists from using general aviation
aircraft to sneak into the United States. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(NPRM), Advanced Information on Private Aircraft Arriving and Departing the
United States, released on Sept. 11, will require more detailed information
about arriving and departing private aircraft and persons onboard. The NPRM will
require pilots of private aircraft to provide to the U.S. Government complete
passenger and crew manifest data and aircraft information to foster aircraft
identification, tracking and communication, one hour prior to departure to and
from the United States, giving Customs agents time to check names against
terrorist watch lists. The proposed rule is similar to one recently announced to
cover commercial flights. "This rule is designed to further protect the nation
by improving our ability to identify threats on flights to and from the United
States," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "We have a similar
rule in place that allows us to assess the risk of commercial aircraft
passengers on these flights and we are now taking steps to expand that
capability to include passengers on international flights by private aircraft."
DHS is considering a phased approach to implement the proposed security
measures. Under Phase I, DHS will publish the NPRM to elicit public comments
prior to issuance of a final rule and implementation of the new requirements.
Under Phase II, DHS will develop methods and processes to address "additional
security vulnerabilities" for international private aircraft operations at their
last point of departure prior to entering U.S. airspace.
