TSA and DHS Merge Border Flight Crossing Procedures
Two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agen- cies recently merged their border security programs to eliminate redundancy as well as the paperwork
burden of international travelers. The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) International Waiver program will be folded into Customs and Border Protection’s
(CBP) Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS).
This will satisfy a commitment made at AirVenture
2009 by TSA’s new general aviation manager, Brian De-
lauter, and CBP’s APIS program manager, Eric Rodriguez,
to improve the border crossing procedure for general aviation pilots through collaboration. The information merger will allow pilots to only complete the CBP electronic
APIS paperwork to fly across U.S. borders.
EAA, which has advocated for a less onerous system, has
prepared a guide on how to navigate the current requirements until the new process is finalized. That is available
at www.EAA.org/news/2009/2009-05-21_cbp.asp.
EAAer Assists With Mexican ELT Rule Extension
Thanks to coordination efforts by EAA member Rick Gardner, EAA 791548, of travel service provider Caribbean Sky Tours, the Mexican government
extended its emergency locator transmitter (ELT) rules
through April 2010 for general aviation aircraft flying in
Mexico. The extension provides a procedure that will allow certain U.S. pilots operating 121.5 MHz ELTs to fly
into Mexico through April 2, 2010. After that date, all general aviation aircraft flying into Mexico must be equipped
with an operable 406 MHz ELT.
Gardner and his wife, Pia, owners and operators of
Cancun, Mexico-based Caribbean Sky Tours, are longtime
AirVenture and Sun ’n Fun exhibitors and regularly con-
duct forums on flying to Mexico, Central America, and
the Caribbean. Rick Gardner worked directly with the Di-reccion General De Aeronautica Civil (DGAC, the Mexican equivalent of the FAA) on the 406 MHz ELT regulation
for the last two years.
“We have had a very good relationship with the DGAC
for many years and have worked together on a number of
different issues to facilitate the arrival of visiting general
aviation aircraft into Mexico,” he said. “We are also on
the executive council of the Mexican Federation of Pilots
(FEMPPA) and are an authorized distributor for INEGI, the
Mexican charting office, which allows us to stay abreast of
Mexican aeronautical issues and products.”
