Pilots' Licenses Lack Security Measures, Mica Says
08:29 pm

October 19, 2010




by Bill Chappell

If you were pulled over while driving — and you showed the officer a license with Henry Ford's picture on it, they would be forgiven for thinking something's very wrong. But as the AP reports, most pilots use a license whose sole image is that of Orville and Wilbur Wright.

As the article details, most airline pilots are expected to show their company ID when accessing a plane or tarmac. But most private pilots would only be expected to show their FAA license — when renting a plane, for instance.

The new requirements were in the expansive Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. In it, Congress told the Federal Aviation Administration to create a pilot's license that included a photo and the ability to store biometric information to help confirm the pilot's identity.

Rep. John Mica of Florida, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently sent a letter to the heads of the FAA, the Transportation Security Administration and the Homeland Security Department to ask why the license hadn't been created.

Part of the delay seems to have come from the agencies' inability to agree on a single biometric system — to ensure that the system used in the licenses would be readable by scanners at airports. But, Mica told the AP, the three agencies are merely pointing fingers at each other.

And on his Web site, Mica said the situation "looks like a Three Stooges episode."


Responding to his letter, FAA spokeswoman Sasha Johnson told the AP that "the licenses issued now already have the capability to hold biometric information."

But according to the AP, "Mica said that's not what the agency told his staff."

A hint of why Mica might be publicly calling out the transportation and security agencies might lie in another news item linked to from his site. This one, an article from The St. Augustine Record, is titled "Mica Would Become Transportation Committee Chairman."

The piece details how Mica was poised to take control of the panel in 2007 but, "That didn't work out," Mica told the newspaper.

I can't wait to see the terrorist who won't fly because he doesn't have his license.

More liberties and expenses forgone in the name of security. Stupid Americans

Those who give away their liberty for security deserve neither. Ben Franklin/George Washington not sure which on right now, but still rings true.

The only problem I see with taking the step to add photos to a pilot certificate is that there is really no structure in place to make use of it. A driver's license has had a photo since before I was born, there is a DMV in every town to make one for you, and the only person who really cares to see it is a highway patrolman or a bar bouncer. Getting one will probably be about like getting a passport, which is to say not exactly expeditious.

Now, who is going to check your pilot certificate besides some bored FAA employee? The bigger issue here is what sort of other crackdown is on the horizon that will make a photo ID certificate necessary? If you recall last year, the TSA was trying to implement the ID requirement for airports that had passenger service, which would have made life miserable.

That's what I'm afraid of-- a system that needs a photo ID.

We here in Canada had to get new ones this year. They are like a passport with your picture and high security paper etc. We should be able to use them like a passport too. As ususal they add the caveat " subject to acceptance by the governing body." It was done quite seamlessly. Send them a passport photo and a simple form. It's called an "aviation document" instead of a licence.

Swell.

gb

I, for one, welcome our new identification demanding overlords!

What's wrong with a driver's license to prove who you are, and a pilot's license to prove you're a pilot? Everything's already in place- no new nothing required.
Seems like I've seen driver's licenses from some states that don't have photo's?

I, for one, always wondered why I had to take my shoes off just to get aboard a airliner yet my commercial license doesn't even have my picture on it lol

In the end of the day we all know it's window dressing.

Probably will be like just getting your passport photos done. I don't think I am going to make a big issue out of this one, plenty of other things that are far more anoying.

Even my Saudi pilots license has my picture on it. It's glued onto a piece of cardboard and I have to supply the picture, but it has my picture!

A few years ago somebody realized the police had no database with photo's or fingerprints to access. So they go out and buy all sorts of top class equipment and EVERYBODY in the country had to go to a local police station and get their fingerprints and pictures taken. Lo and behold I went to renew my drivers license about a year later and it came in a credit card sized format with the same picture they had taken a year earlier.

I guess aviation is last to upgrade around the world.

Next we'll have to take our shoes off to get into own own aircraft.

By the way,
I got my new aircraft registration! Renewal every 3 year for $5.00. Hows that for the start of a new tax. Can't wait to wa[*]ch it go up and make it every year.

Let's hope they don't go with the passport size license like my Canadian one, as it is so big you have to remember to take it with you, or not. Steve

I think having your Social Security number tattoo'd to your forehead, your picture inprinted into your left cheek, and an ID chip inplanted in your brain ought to about cover it...no worries about not carrying your purse or wallet or loosing that paper/plastic ID..Oh yes, a barcode on your left buttock that gives the authorities all of the other impertanant information about you and your life. On your right buttock will be a Gestapo code to certify all of the above information. Man do I feel safe!

Several years ago I was forced to get a TWIC (Transportations Workers Identity Card) by the USCG because I held a CG Captains license.

To date nothing has been done with the TWIC program and the TWIC is deem not acceptable as a governament ID.

I cost me $150.00 not to mention that I had to travel to the issueing office because it could only be applied for and issued in "person".

Of course I could use a PassPort as ID to get the TWIC and could recieve the PassPort in the mail but not the TWIC.

It is all foolishness and makes me both sad and angery.

I will vote today.

Eltee wrote:Next we'll have to take our shoes off to get into own own aircraft.

Or grope ourselves looking for weapons. Now where did tha sword get too?

steve wrote:Let's hope they don't go with the passport size license like my Canadian one, as it is so big you have to remember to take it with you, or not. Steve

I don't like the large size of the Canadian aviation document either. I can't carry my licence in my wallet anymore. Plus, I had to take an 'english proficiency' test (over the phone) before they would send me the new licence.