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“9/11 woke us up to the reality that we live in
a dangerous world. With varied and ever-emerging
threats, every effort should be made to make air
travel as safe as possible.
As a former FFDO, I can personally attest
the sacrifices and expenses these pilots
voluntarily undergo for the privilege to
participate in the program and the honor to
defend our country from terrorist attack,” said
Rep. Cravaack.
“The FFDO program is the most cost
effective means to making air travel safe for
Americans.”
Earlier this year, the FFDO fund was going to be
cut from $25.5 million to $12.5 million,
effectively shutting it down. At this level of
funding, the FFDO program would be unable to
re-certify all of the pilots in the program,
maintain its current management structure, and
train any additional officers.
According to estimates by the Air Line Pilots
Association, FFDO’s only cost $15 per flight
segment. Currently, FFDO’s defend over 100,000
flight segments per month and 1.5 million flight
segments per year. Thousands of FFDO’s have been
certified through the program, despite a budget
that hasn’t grown since the program’s inception.
Representative Cravaack serves on the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
where he is Vice Chair of the Aviation
Subcommittee the Homeland Security Committee,
and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.
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