Just a week after telling a Congressional panel that maybe GA is not such a big security threat after all — remarks that elicited much glee from AOPA, as AVweb reported last Monday — TSA chief James Loy was nominated by President Bush to fill the No. 2 slot in the Department of Homeland Security. If approved by the Senate, Loy will take over as Tom Ridge’s deputy, filling a vacancy created when Gordon England became Secretary of the Navy this month. EAA applauded the nomination. “Admiral Loy has come to adopt a view of general aviation that is generally balanced, fair, and grounded in the need to preserve the American citizen’s right to freedom of movement,” EAA said in a news release on Thursday. “Most importantly, [Loy] set forth for the congressional record what EAA and others have believed all along; that the perceived security threat posed by general aviation has been consistently overstated in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.” Loy took over the agency in July 2002. TSA Deputy Administrator Steve McHale will serve as acting chief until a successor for Loy is named.
