TSA BizAv Security To Face Legal Challenge

A private aircraft operator in the Northeast is seeking co-signatories for a legal challenge to the Transportation Safety Administration's (TSA) plan to impose new security procedures involving FAR91 aircraft weighing 12,500 lb and more.

The brief from Bruce Rose, CEO of Carrington Capital of Greenwich Conn., the parent firm of Peregrine Jet LLC, its three-aircraft flight department, contends that Congress never gave TSA the authority to institute the so-called Large Aircraft Security Plan (LASP). Rather, it says the Congress rejected such a program for private aircraft and instead simply directed TSA to "transmit a report on airspace and other security measures that can be deployed, as necessary, to improve general aviation security."

Rose said today the LASP proposal was a "critical issue" for general aviation, but went on to note that his brief does not suggest the industry should be without a security program. Rather, he said, "a collaborative process including both operators and the TSA will be significantly more productive than the current one-size-fits-all proposal. By urging the TSA to follow the federal rule making procedures carefully and staying within the boundaries of their authority as granted by Congress and the Homeland Security Act, we believe that a more practical security program and solution may be created."

The challenge is being filed by Mayer Brown, LLP, external corporate counsel Peregrine Jet, on Friday, Feb. 27, the deadline for responses to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the LASP.

Photo credit: Cessna