Since my original blog post, I’ve been in contact with some of the top leaders in the GA industry. They too are concerned about LASP and agree that your help is needed. You may have noticed that other popular blogs, including www.jetwhine.com, www.plasticpilot.net, www.aviationchatter.com, www.myflightblog.com, www.askacfi.com, www.av8rdan.com and mileofrunway have all echoed the need for pilots to take action now. In the last few days, more than 500 additional comments have been logged at regulations.gov, bringing the total to over 3,400. Comments are due to the TSA by midnight of February 27, 2008, so you’ll need to act soon. For details on the issue, read the earlier post TSA’s LASP: A Solution in Search of a Problem.
As important as it is to register your comments with TSA, it may be even more important to contact your elected representatives, particularly…
those with TSA oversight responsibility, to let them know your thoughts on the TSA proposal. As an example, here’s the letter I faxed to Senator Boxer’s office today.
In the Senate, the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is responsible for TSA oversight. Specifically, members of the Aviation Operations, Safety and Security subcommittee are responsible. Some of the states with the largest number of pilots and flight activity—California, Texas and Florida—are represented on this committee. Here’s the list of Senators on the subcommittee. If you live in one of these states, I strongly urge you to contact your Senator now and express your thoughts on the TSA’s LASP proposal. You can use the fax numbers listed to send a letter. If you don’t live in one of these states, contact an elected representative from your state and let them know your thoughts about this proposal.
Arkansas: Mark Pryor (202) 228-0908
California: Barbara Boxer (202) 224-0454
Florida: Bill Nelson (202) 228-2183
Hawaii: Daniel Inouye (202) 224-6747
Louisiana: David Vitter (202) 228-5061
Maine: Olympia Snowe (202) 224-1946
Massachusetts: John Kerry (202) 224-8525
Minnesota: Amy Klobachar (202) 228-2186
Mississippi: Roger Wicker (202) 228-0378
Missouri: Clair McCaskill (202) 228-6326
Nevada: John Ensign (202) 228-2193
New Jersey: Frank Lautenberg (202) 228-4054
North Dakota: Bryon Dorgan (202) 224-1193
South Carolina: Jim DeMint (202) 228-5143
South Dakota: John Thune (202) 228-5429
Texas: Kay Bailey Hutchinson (202) 224-0776
Washington: Maria Cantwell (202) 228-0514
West Virginia: Jay Rockefeller (202) 224-7665
As you well know, it’s far easier to get changes made to regulations BEFORE they take effect. Please take a moment NOW to contact your representatives and let them know what you think of these regulations and how they would impact your flying.