Ethan Collins TSOB Docket Summary | 2025-TSOB-0100 Public Record

What this case is

TSA issued a Determination of Security Threat in 2021 and asked FAA to revoke Collins’s airman certificates. An Administrative Law Judge (Hon. Brian J. Curley, U.S. Coast Guard ALJ) later affirmed that determination in a Decision and Order dated May 30, 2024 (ALJ Docket 22-TSA-0105). Collins appealed to the Transportation Security Oversight Board. The TSOB docket is 2025-TSOB-0100.

FAA later acknowledged that Collins surrendered his commercial, remote, flight instructor, and ground instructor certificates (Case No. 2021AGC00047, letter dated May 6, 2026). He is not providing flight instruction.

Not legal advice. Official records remain with TSOB/TSA. Documents marked Sensitive Security Information (SSI) under 49 C.F.R. Parts 15 and 1520 are not posted here.

These two files (Sept. 14 addendum)

1. TSA Exhibit List (COLLINS_25-TSOB-0100)

This PDF is the same attachment already published: TSA’s August 3, 2016 Interim Redress Procedures for FAA Certificate Holders – U.S. Citizens (how a Determination of Security Threat is issued, information exchange, ALJ review, TSOB review, and withdrawal). Download: 2025-12-tsa-exhibit-list-redress-procedures.pdf.

Public points from those procedures: TSA has the burden before the ALJ; the standard is preponderance of the evidence; either party may appeal an ALJ decision to TSOB within 60 days; TSA may withdraw a determination at any time, which would moot the TSOB appeal and cause FAA to withdraw its order.

2. Decision and Order (filename Decision and Order_250906_082500.pdf)

This is the ALJ’s May 30, 2024 Decision and Order in 22-TSA-0105 — the file former counsel emailed on September 6, 2025 (Exhibit B). Every page is marked SSI. Federal rules forbid posting SSI to the public internet without TSA/DOT authorization. The full 28-page order is therefore not hosted on PilotRules.

Procedural facts already stated in TSA’s later public briefs, and confirmed by the caption of that order:

IssuedMay 30, 2024, New Orleans, LA, by Administrative Law Judge Brian J. Curley
CaptionIn the Matter of Ethan Collins, Docket 22-TSA-0105
DispositionTSA’s Determination of Security Threat is AFFIRMED; TSA’s revocation of FAA certificates is affirmed
HearingMay 2–3, 2023, Baltimore, Maryland (TSA counsel Brian Itami and Rachel Gerstenfeld; Respondent counsel Geoffrey Chambers)
Appeal notice in the orderEither party may appeal to TSOB within 60 days of service (Interim Redress Procedures § 109)
Certificate of serviceEmailed May 30, 2024 to TSA counsel, to Chambers at g.k.chambers@gmail.com, and to the ALJ Docketing Center — which is the service TSA relies on in its timeliness motions

The order’s factual findings and analysis are SSI-marked and are not reproduced here. Collins’s TSOB appeal challenges whether that decision should stand and whether the appeal was timely; TSA asks that the appeal be dismissed as untimely.

Plain-language summary

Collins’s position (from his declaration, reply, and April 2026 memo): He did not receive the actual ALJ Decision until September 6, 2025, when former counsel emailed it. He then filed a TSOB appeal and asked the Panel to accept it despite the usual 60-day clock. He says there has been no recurrence of the 2021 conduct, that he has focused on education and compliance, and that ForeFlight logs appearing while he was in federal custody raise chain-of-custody questions about phone-derived evidence.

TSA’s position (from its Dec. 8, 2025 motion and Jan. 2, 2026 response): The 60-day appeal deadline is mandatory. Counsel was served the ALJ order on May 30, 2024. TSA says Collins has not shown due diligence or good cause for an ~18-month delay, that college coursework is not an excuse, and that rehabilitation evidence is outside the TSOB’s limited “substantial evidence” review. TSA asks the Panel to reject and summarily dismiss the appeal.

Where it stands: As of Collins’s later status inquiry, the Panel had not announced a decision on the untimely-appeal motion or the merits. His perfected appellant brief was filed March 17, 2026; the second supplemental memorandum was filed April 26, 2026.

Chronological docket (documents released here)

Date	Document	Who	What it says (extract)
Mar. 12, 2024 (eCFR copy as of Sept. 2, 2025)	6 CFR Part 126	DHS regulation	Rules for TSOB review. Notice of appeal is due within 60 days of the ALJ decision. Untimely appeals “must” be dismissed unless the Panel finds good cause. Appellant brief due 60 days after TSA files the record. Panel may affirm, modify, reverse, or remand. If TSA withdraws the threat determination, the appeal is moot.
May 30, 2024	ALJ Decision and Order (SSI — not posted)	ALJ Curley, 22-TSA-0105	AFFIRMED TSA’s Determination of Security Threat and certificate revocation. Served by email the same day on counsel (g.k.chambers@gmail.com). Marked SSI on every page; full PDF is not published. Filename later emailed to Collins: Decision and Order_250906_082500.pdf (Sept. 6, 2025).
Sept. 6, 2025	Exhibit B	Geoffrey Chambers → Collins	Email (subject line OCR’d as “Alcohol order”) attaching “Decision and Order_250906_082500.pdf” (May 30, 2024 decision). Collins treats this as first receipt of the order itself.
On or about Nov. 2025	Exhibit A — Supplemental Declaration	Ethan Jeffrey Collins	Declares he did not receive the ALJ order when issued; received it Sept. 6, 2025 after repeated requests; then acted to appeal. States no recurrence of similar 2021 conduct; focused on stability, education, and compliance. Includes a timeliness reply section arguing good cause under 6 CFR § 126.13(d).
Nov. 24, 2025	TSOB instruction letter	Randall Kaplan, Docket Clerk	TSOB received Collins’s Notice of Appeal of the May 30, 2024 ALJ order, plus a Motion to Accept Untimely Notice of Appeal and consent to electronic service. Assigned 2025-TSOB-0100. Attached 6 CFR Part 126. TSA must file the administrative record within 30 days; Collins must then file an appellant brief within 60 days or the appeal may be dismissed. Serve TSOB_Docket@hq.dhs.gov and TSAOCCSTAO@tsa.dhs.gov.
Dec. 8, 2025	TSA Motion Opposing Waiver of Timeliness	Judith A. Gomez, TSA Chief Counsel	Asks the Panel to deny a waiver and dismiss. Procedural history: DST March 23, 2021; Collins’s ALJ request July 23, 2022 (TSA waived that earlier delay); hearing May 2, 2023; ALJ order May 30, 2024; TSOB notice ~Nov. 24, 2025. Argues no good cause, service on counsel was enough, college is not an excuse, and this is a second long delay.
Dec. 2025 (attachment)	TSA exhibit / Interim Redress Procedures	TSA	August 3, 2016 “Interim Redress Procedures for FAA Certificate Holders – U.S. Citizens”: how a DST is issued, information exchange, ALJ review, and TSOB review. TSA may withdraw a determination at any time.
Jan. 2, 2026	TSA Response to Respondent’s Reply Brief	TSA	Repeats request to dismiss. Says Collins still has not produced emails showing earlier requests for the order; notes he filed the TSOB appeal pro se and had TSA/ALJ contacts. Attaches May 30, 2024 service email from ALJ paralegal Nicole Mulmore to parties including Chambers. Argues rehabilitation and college courses are irrelevant to substantial-evidence review and to good cause.
Mar. 17, 2026	Perfected appellant brief (referenced in Collins’s later status letter; not in this file set)	Collins	Filed to perfect the appeal after the record, per 6 CFR § 126.23.
Apr. 26, 2026	Second Supplemental Memorandum	Collins	After supervised release ended, ForeFlight showed two tracks logged while he says he was in custody: Apr. 19, 2021 TIST (St. Thomas) toward ~24.96°N / 76.69°W; June 11, 2021 LTBJ (İzmir) toward Kayseri, Turkey. He argues background GPS logging requires a powered device and that this breaks chain of custody for phone-derived evidence used in the administrative record. Served TSA and TSOB by email.
May 6, 2026	FAA letter (AGC-300)	Nicholas (Cole) R. Milliard	FAA received surrendered certificates. If TSA withdraws the security-threat determination, certificates (except expired medicals) would be returned.

Supplemental evidence Collins submitted — ForeFlight tracks

Collins’s April 26, 2026 memorandum attaches ForeFlight history showing three listed items, including a local KRXE entry on Jan. 31, 2021 and the two 2021 tracks he says occurred while he was incarcerated. The screenshot below is the image he provided with that filing.

ForeFlight map showing a track from Izmir, Turkey toward Kayseri, with sidebar entries for June 2021 LTBJ, April 2021 TIST, and January 2021 KRXE

Caption as Collins described it: LTBJ → 38.74°N/35.05°E (June 11, 2021); TIST → 24.96°N/76.69°W (April 19, 2021); KRXE → KRXE (January 31, 2021). TSA has not, in the documents published here, responded to this supplemental memorandum.

Facts both sides recite (undisputed in these papers)

March 23, 2021TSA issued an Initial Determination of Security Threat and asked FAA to revoke certificates.
July 23, 2022Collins requested ALJ review (late at that stage; TSA then waived objection for good cause).
May 2, 2023In-person ALJ hearing; counsel Gregory K. Chambers appeared (notice April 30, 2023).
May 30, 2024ALJ Decision and Order issued; electronic service to counsel.
November 2025Collins’s TSOB notice of appeal received; docket 2025-TSOB-0100 opened November 24, 2025.

What Collins is asking the public to take from this

He is cooperating with a lawful appeal, publishing the other side’s briefs as well as his own, and documenting later education, civic training, and community letters elsewhere on this site. He is not asking readers to treat a pending motion as a win. He is asking them to read the timeline instead of leftover 2021 headlines about a different search snippet or a different person with the same name.

Accountability press release · Character references · Wrong-person disambiguation

Ethan Collins — TSOB appeal record, in order