DEER PARK, TX – After being made aware that large numbers of airplanes owned by foreign nationals are registered to two P.O. Boxes in Onalaska, a tight-knit East Texas community without an airport, U.S. Congressman Brian Babin (TX-36) has co-sponsored the Aircraft Ownership Transparency Act of 2019 (H.R. 393).
Upon speaking with his colleagues in Congress, Rep. Babin learned a loophole in federal law allows foreigners to register their airplane with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by transferring a title to a U.S. trustee. The Aircraft Ownership Transparency Act of 2019, a bipartisan piece of legislation that will address this situation, is authored by Rep. Babin’s Democratic colleague on the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA-08).
“It is deeply troubling that there is little information available about who actually owns these airplanes. This issue not only affects Southeast Texas, but the entire nation,” said Babin. “It should not take more documentation for an American citizen to obtain a Texas driver’s license, or board a commercial airline flight, than the FAA requires of a foreign national to register an airplane. The American people have the right to know who is flying in and above our country. I look forward to working with Rep. Lynch to shepherd this legislation through Congress and to the President’s desk for his signature.”
“We need a complete overhaul of the system,” said Lynch. “In 2013 the DoT Inspector General released an audit examining the FAA’s Civil Registry and found incomplete registrations for approximately 54% of aircrafts owned under trusts for non-U.S. citizens. We have witnessed associates of Hezbollah, a listed terrorist organization, as well as drug traffickers and others who have exploited the aircraft registration process to legally own and operate aircraft within the United States. This is crazy. Make no mistake, anyone trying to conceal the ownership of an aircraft is not doing so out of good intentions. It should be obvious after 9/11 that aircrafts can become weapons that can inflict serious damage, and this very reasonable piece of legislation will help protect the American people from potential drug dealers and terrorists. I look forward to working with my colleagues, including my friend Rep. Brian Babin from East Texas, to move the Aircraft Ownership Transparency Act of 2019 into law.”
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