What does flight school security mean? A case study of university affiliated flight schools in the United States

Eleven years after the September 11th terrorist event, flight school security has become a relevant topic with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). There has been discussion related to the weaknesses in the vetting process of international flight training students (GAO 2012). Concurrently, the transportation security community has initiated a call for transportation professionals to describe what transportation security means in their particular discipline. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of flight school security regulations and perceptions of flight school participants. The researchers used a mixed methods survey to collect data to identify perceived strengths and weaknesses of flight school security. Results have indicated participants are confident with reporting issues. However, perceived weaknesses such as: communication, awareness, physical security control measures and efficiency are discussed.