Flyingtoast is entirely ignorant about the program, as are several other posters who have made wildly inaccurate comments about the nature and requirements that it imposes.
One poster questioned why flight schools are burdened with doing the leg work for a student. The flight school is not. Clearly not. The program requires that the student submit for a background check, which is not conducted by the flight school. All the student need do is complete minor paperwork, get fingerprinted, submit it. The school's part? TSA contacts the school to see if the student is known. Big imposition there.
The instructor has a paperwork burden, keeping records? Instructors have ALWAYS had a burden to keep records...nothing new here. Lemme tell you something, mate. Keeping records has kept my butt out of prison, when I was able to prove I was in the clear, and has kept me out of a very big law suit when I was able to show exactly what training I did and didn't do with detailed records, after a foolish student years later crashed an airplane while not current, with no medical, in a place he shouldn't have been.
Keeping records makes sense...keep them a long time. Think that's a burden to you? Not hardly. I can testify to the fact that while you never may need to refer to them, keeping copious detailed notes of all your activities with your students may save your bacon...and just once is all it takes to make you a believer. Only one insinuation, one false accusation...just be able to show your part...you'll be glad you did. Don't whine about the terrible burden that places on an instructor. It's salvation.
Flight schools shutting down, hmmm? If a flight school gets all it's business from abroad, there might be some hesitation, but that's still no deterrent. If a flight school incorporates the process into their customer service, it can become nearly seamless. Part of doing business. The draw for students to come here has always been the cost, and that hasn't changed. It's still easier and less expensive to obtain certification here than any place in the world. After a handfull of foriegn students used that easy, inexpensive training to kill thousands, I have zero heartburn about minor measures such as this that take a step toward helping to prevent it.
For those here who have been whining about flyingtoast not becoming a citizen, get off it. My mother isn't a citizen. She's a legal alien, has been paying taxes here entire life, but is not a citizen. During a particular international incident when I was younger, there was some doubt as to weather the US would side with her country of origin or not; we faced the possibility of needing to leave the country...until the US elected to back up that country and all blew over.
Should she become a citizen? No. She doesn't enjoy the right to vote, but she pays full taxes, performs a variety of community service, obeys all laws, and executes every duty that any citizen might. And she's been here 40 years now.
Me? I'm a citizen. I support her, I support citizens alike. I see no difference. Those who push that button might have a serious bone of contention with me and no leg to stand upon. Those who push it too far might not have the leg at all when we're done.
Now, to make a point. Would Mom need a fingerprint check if for some elaborately bizarre reason she elected to seek flight training? Yes, she would. Would she need it more than once? No, she would not. Do I have any heartburn requiring my own mother to undergo a fingerprinting and background check, and to pay the fee? Nope. It's the law. It wasn't passed covertly, nor is it some "facist" effort to undermine the government. Once she obtains her sport pilot,or recreational pilot, or private pilot, would she need to pay a processing fee, if training in an aircraft in which she's already qualified? No, she wouldn't. If we did all the training at once, including training in additional aircraft, would she need to pay the training fee over and over again? No, because it would be one instance of training.
Does her "clearance" last only 30 days? No, it does not. If someone had bothered to look into the program, up to 30 days advance notice might be required for certain category training, but that's it.
Read about the program, and learn it. The deep dark requiremenents for flight instructors? Fill out a few minutes of internet form, then go to the FSDO with two forms of ID for verification. Done. You're in. You're a training provider that's known and validated. Though stuff, that. I can see why flight schools might be collapsing under the burden. Then when a student applies, go on line and verify the TSA query that the student really is known and has spoken to you. Tough stuff, again.
Do you need to do anything else beyond the ordinary? No, not really. Does the student need to lie pinned to the ramp with his head beneath your boot heel while you elicit painful fingerprints under electric or chemical restraint, for each flight lesson, each flight review, etc? No. Read the program. Understand it; it's not complicated. It's straightforward, it's not some evil, totalitarian, dictator-imposed act of horror. It's a requirement to have a background check, and then get on with training.
Get off the high horse about citizens. Don't like non-citizens competing for work? Neither do I. But what possible heartburn can anybody have about a non-citizen who provides employment, who pays taxes, who contributes to society? I surely don't. What heartburn could you possibly have about a non-citizen who comes here seeking training, brining money into the country? I don't. And neither does this program; it merely applies a face of legitimacy to the effort, and helps remove the stigma from the students. The students are clean, validated, cleared. It's a simple process.
C'mon folks. I get fingerprinted. I'm a citizen with a fist full of FAA certificates and a long work history. I've been in various government service(s). I've been in law enforcement. I'm a known quantity. I've been certified in the past to conduct the background checks. But I still submit for clearances, badges, whatever...and I have zero heartburn with it. None. Check me until you're blue in the face...and then again. Just give me some gojo to get the ink off. Then check again. Am I giving up any rights? Not a whit. Is it an imposition on me? Not a whit. Am I going to speak evil of the government or my flag as a result of it? Not a whit.
For those who do think these basic laws and protections, brought about legally and with appropriate notice, are wrong, then follow the basic legislative process of appeal. The system is set up for that. Start by writing your elected officials. I've never had one fail to write back in many years. I've seen changes over the years. Run for office yourself. Arnold did. Jesse did. Ronald did. You can too. But don't sit down and whine and cry about the facist totalitarian regime that lords over us, cuz folks, it just ain't so. You want to make a difference? Then stop talking and do it. Your whining is giving me a headache.
For God's sake read the program and understand it first before you cut down the country, crucify legal aliens, burn the flag, or post ignornantly about the nature of the program. Is that too much to ask?
