Dc3

AOPA urges TSA to reduce burden for flying into DC-3 airports

Flying into the Washington, D.C., Flight Restricted Zone is a needlessly cumbersome process, but AOPA has some ideas on how to improve it. To simplify the process, AOPA is asking the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to modify the procedures so that any FSDO in the country is able to do the airman records checks and allow pilots to be fingerprinted by approved state or federal facilities where the data can be properly transmitted.

Currently, pilots who want to fly into the so-called DC-3 airports (College Park Airport, Potomac Airfield, and Washington Executive/Hyde Field) are required to visit the Baltimore/Washington or Dulles FSDOs to complete the airman checks. They then are to report to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to be fingerprinted and undergo criminal background checks. As part of a standard regulatory procedure, the TSA recently asked for comments on the process before the Office of Management and Budget reissues the approval to collect the data.

August 12, 2005