The U.S. FAA and TSA have ended its border skirmish with Canadian pilots by withdrawing a controversial NOTAM that caused some serious heartburn for some operators north of the border.
The new NOTAM was posted Jan. 16 and reverses all the measures that were causing friction. The main issue was the new requirement for background checks and security waivers for pilots overflying U.S. airspace on their way to Canadian destinations.
Since the inception of aviation, Canadian aircraft have had the ability to transit U.S. airspace without having to report to Customs or submit to any other scrutiny from U.S. authorities.
While the new rules briefly caused some expense and inconvenience to some Canadian pilots and operators, it was the precedent setting nature of the NOTAM that concerned people on this side of the border.
Canadian authorities were blind-sided by the NOTAM and it took two weeks to get it sorted out.
“This event was apparently an oversight, a mistake and unfortunately normal protocol between TSA/FAA and our TC Civil Aviation Security was skipped or forgotten,” said COPA President Bernard Gervais. “COPA received assurance that such an event would not repeat itself without proper coordination. Canadian and U.S. staff pulled together in an amazing collaboration to resolve this issue.