Business and general aviation groups continued their push for privacy, submitting comments to the FAA, as well as taking their concerns to Capitol Hill.
NBAA weighed in on an FAA request to comment on the removal of personally identifiable information from the Aircraft Registry. Congress, in the most recent FAA reauthorization bill, directed the agency to permit private aircraft operators to request that their information be withheld from public dissemination. The FAA in March followed through on the directive, enabling operators to submit a request through the Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services (CARES) to withhold this information from public display on all FAA websites.
The agency also requested comments on whether to default to shielding operator information and how removal of the information would affect the ability of stakeholders to perform functions such as regulatory compliance, safety checks, and maintenance.
In its comments this week, NBAA stressed that the FAA can strike a balance that permits access to the information for legitimate industry uses, while safeguarding sensitive personal data.
The association also underscored the importance of having privacy, telling members: “Publicly available, personally identifiable aircraft information has helped enable flight-stalking by anyone, anywhere in the world, with any motive. Congress has historically recognized that the situation raises serious concerns regarding passenger security, safety, and corporate espionage.”
NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen praised the measure in comments to lawmakers this week, telling the U.S. House aviation subcommittee that the action mitigates threats while noting that the business aviation community is working to ensure that there are no unintended consequences.
Also testifying during the hearing on the 2024 FAA reauthorization bill, AOPA president and CEO Darren Pleasance called the measure a good first step. When asked about the issue, Pleasance cited an example of an owner annoyed by the noise of light aircraft capturing its N-number and using it to track down ownership information, followed by a lawsuit.
Pleasance was confident that the litigant would not prevail, but said that it would come at a burden to the operator. He also expressed concern about a new “cottage industry” of companies contracting with public-use airports to collect fees from pilots based on ADS-B data that leads to aircraft registration information.
“These actions bring numerous safety and individual privacy concerns and are a strong deterrent for other pilots to equip with this safety technology,” he said. While some states have adopted legislation to prohibit the use of ADS-B data for fee collection, he urged the committee to develop a national policy to protect that data to avoid a patchwork of laws.