I truly believe that, justified or not, these requirements will have a chilling effect on YE flying. Many of the pilots I know that fly them now will not even do the training much less the background check putting a greater burden on those of us who do it. But I can't say I can blame those who don't.
Tom
N94856
All of the pilots who fly YE in our chapter have decided NOT to participate after May 1. In addition all of the volunteers we have spoken with will not participate. Read the entire program. It unjustly puts a burden on the volunteers and pilots of the YE program. Our concerns are our right to privacy as it pertains to Social Security numbers, the acquisition of data, storage of such data by the EAA, and safeguards as to the security of the data. In addition the program "rules" are ridiculous. Read about buckling in a YE, flying in a two seat aircraft, the requirements of the volunteers, photography and it's use, etc. I can go on and on.
Our chapter flies about 200 youngsters and works with students in 4 counties. All this will cease. I wish the program luck.
I have severe concerns about the privacy of information submitted in the background checks. I've been through the identity theft thing already. Whose background checking the people doing the background check? Given the way most of the YE rallies appear to work around here, I think it may be over for me for YE as well.
I already told the BSA to take a hike because they wanted copies of all sorts of documents they had no business having.
“You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.”
--Scott McNealy
I took the test and then submitted the background check. I've submitted to many background checks over the years mostly required by employers. I hope to fly YE again in 2016.
Having just read through the policies, I find this ridiculous.
Can't take pictures of the kids without parental permission? Are we now supposed to police YE events and tell everyone with a cellphone camera to put them away?
In-bloody-sane.
I've done a number of background checks on prospective employees, never needed their SSN to get the information required.
I've submitted clearance applications to the government ever since I was 20, but that's not the same as sending it to some unidentified site connected with the EAA. The EAA ain't getting my SSN or driver's license number. Sorry, ain't going to happen. Been screwed by that before.Originally Posted by Mark van Wyk
I did the course, but holy crap, the background check lands you at some anonymously registered site that's unverifiable. What the hell is this? Can't the EAA even use a legitimate company? How can I even verify it's going to AmericanChecked when I'm redirected to some clandestine site? And who the hell is AmericanChecked anyhow, they seem primarily to be involved in tribal gambling.
By the way the EAA training and background check site seems to be busted. I've got both stuck in PENDING now and can't do squat.
Last edited by FlyingRon; 01-20-2016 at 04:46 PM.
Not to make light of what is a real problem in some areas, but we all know there is such a huge risk of children being molested by a pedophile during a 15 minute YE flight...
But EAA has long since succumbed to the Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
The threshold for pedophile is fairly low these days. Display an inappropriate image on a phone or tablet to a minor and you have crossed the line with 14 min to spare.
Well, it only has to happen once. If it does, EAA will be sued, and asked "What did you do to ensure the adults in the Young Eagle program did not have pedophile histories?" If the answer is "nothing," they're toast. If they'd performed an industry-standard background check, they're in better shape. Probably *still* pay millions, but will be less than if they'd done nothing to investigate participants.
About twenty years ago, I was the president of the airport advisory board at my home drome. Being on the board was totally a volunteer position....There was no pay; we got no special access or any privileges. Yet the city announced that we would have to undergo criminal background checks. I refused, and got dropped from the board.
Yet for ~15 years before that...and since, as a matter of fact, I've maintained a fairly high US Government security clearance, where I had to undergo re-investigations every five years. In that case, it was necessary to keep my employment.
There *is* a difference.
I've been notified that my data was part of the massive USG data breach from last year...the hackers not only got my personal data, but the information about my friends, relatives, and medical history I was required to provide. Even copies of my fingerprints, for cripe's sake.
So no, I'm not impressed with a *private* company trying to accrue the same information.
So I don't blame those who are dropping out of Young Eagles over this. I do have one request: Continue to fly kids. Don't bother with the EAA paperwork, just give kids airplane rides.
Ron Wanttaja
Last edited by rwanttaja; 01-20-2016 at 09:58 PM.
Where do you find all this (excellent) stuff Dana?
If may also be extrapolated to describe posters on internet forums.
BJC
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