FAA Assessing Suppression of Private Aircraft Owner/Operator Info – NAAA Seeks Expansion to Part 137

Following a statutory mandate in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (49 U.S.C. §44114), the FAA is seeking implementation of a procedure which, upon request of a private aircraft owner or operator, the personally identifiable information (PII) of such an individual will be withheld from broad dissemination or display, including on publicly available FAA websites. This PII to be removed will include the mailing/registration address, email, telephone number(s) and name(s) of aircraft owners/operators. 

In April, FAA issued a request for public comments on this matter, including a question on whether any additional aircraft registration data should be removed from FAA websites. While not explicit in the Proposed Rule, the impetus for this appears to be public use of ADS-B data which is readily coupled to FAA-provided aircraft owner/operator PII. 

Last week, NAAA provided comments in support of this rulemaking, with a targeted appeal to expand this suppression of aircraft owner/operator PII to Part 137 operators. 

While voluntary ADS-B adoption amongst aerial applicators is growing, many cite the concern that the data will be used against them as the primary barrier to adoption. This is not unfounded. The combination of being extremely visible while performing work for which some sector of the public harbors animosity has resulted in aerial applicators becoming, quite literally targets for individual frustrations. In NAAA’s comments, it is pointed out that aerial applicators have been fired upon on enough occasions for the association to develop a Checklist of Pilots Subjected to Discharge of a Firearm Targeting an Ag Aircraft.  

As precedent for suppressing Part 137 owner/operator PII, NAAA cites uncrewed aerial application systems (UAAS) which, prohibited from ADS-B Out, must adhere to Part 89 Remote ID regulations. Remote ID broadcasts a serial number or session ID of the aircraft, but FAA prevents public correlation of this information with the aircraft owner/operator by not listing this on any of their websites. This effectively shields UAAS owners/operators from being tracked by the public. NAAA reasons that crewed aerial application owners/operators, many of whom want to equip with ADS-B solely to avoid collisions with drones, should be afforded this same level of PII protection by the FAA. 

NAAA’s comments were echoed and supported by NAAA Allied Member uAvionix, a manufacturer of safety-critical avionics systems for both crewed and uncrewed aircraft. In uAvionix comments to FAA, they reiterate that “privacy and safety are not mutually exclusive. The ability to broadcast an aircraft’s location for situational awareness does not require the public disclosure of the owner or operator’s identity.” Thanks to uAvionix for their support in this matter.  

You can view NAAA’s full comments here.