And It Seems To Be Working

The National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) says its work has made it more convenient for flight instructors to complete security awareness training required by the Transportation Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security.

NAFI is making available copies of the security training course in a CD-ROM version, eliminating Internet download problems experienced by thousands of flight instructors who attempted to complete the required training course.

"All instructors must complete this training, whether or not they are part of a flight school," said Rusty Sachs, NAFI executive director. "Unfortunately, the TSA's internet version of the course was so large that it caused nearly universal download delays and printing problems when instructors tried to access it. Downloads taking three hours to complete were not uncommon.

"NAFI told TSA about this problem and then assumed responsibility for distributing an easy-to-use CD-ROM version for home computers."

While TSA had last September set a deadline of January 18, 2005, for completing the course, the technical problems had delayed many instructors from downloading the necessary information. TSA's deadline meant that flight instructors could not teach after that date without completing the security training.

"Thousands of instructors do the bulk of their work in the spring through the fall, so they may have postponed the training over the winter," Sachs said. "It is imperative, though, for all instructors to complete the security awareness training prior to exercising their flight instructor privileges."

FMI: www.nafinet.org