FAA administrator opposes ADS-B-based billing

AOPA welcomed the comments after the hearing, which largely centered on differences between the Senate-passed Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform (ROTOR) Act, and the House-passed Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency (ALERT) Act—both of which would impose a collision avoidance equipage mandate in response to safety concerns following the 2025 midair collision between a regional jet and a military helicopter that killed 67 people.

During the hearing, Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.)—an active general aviation pilot— suggested that it wouldn’t be right to charge a fee when you click on a seatbelt in your car. Sheehy then asked Bedford about ADS-B-based billing, and the need to “make it illegal for a safety tool that is specifically designed to prevent two aircraft from running into each other.”

Sheehy is an original cosponsor of the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (PAPA), which would prohibit, nationwide, the practice of using a technology intended to enhance safety for fee collection. The ALERT Act includes key provisions from PAPA (section 105). AOPA has strongly advocated for PAPA and section 105 of the ALERT Act and will continue to advocate for it to become law.

When asked if ADS-B was “intended to be a fee collecting, tax collecting device,” Bedford replied, “No, sir. It was intended to be a safety and situational awareness tool.” Bedford also noted he recently spoke about the issue at an airport operator’s conference, telling attendees “that we frown on the concept of using ADS-B information for revenue collection at airports.” He also told Sheehy that “if we need to step up that in terms of how aggressively we dissuade that, we will.”

Sheehy pointed out that the practice has a negative impact on safety as it “creates an incentive for pilots, companies, or any organization that owns and operates an aircraft to say, ‘I don’t want to be emitting my signal. I’m going to find mechanical excuses, I’m going to find regulatory excuses, or I’m going to straight up not going to turn it on.’”

“Senator Sheehy is spot on with his observations regarding the misuse of an aircraft collision avoidance technology to collect taxes and fees. AOPA also applauds Administrator Bedford’s agreement on this issue, especially as the House and Senate work out differences between these important aviation safety bills,” said AOPA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Advocacy Jim Coon. “There is strong support for putting an end to this practice, including National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, who commented at an earlier Senate Commerce Committee hearing that the use of ADS-B for economic gain ‘should be prohibited.’”

“We owe it to the 67 victims and their families to keep the focus where it belongs—collision avoidance, earlier warning, and safer skies for everyone,” added Coon.

At least a dozen states are considering legislation to prevent ADS-B from being used to collect fees. Florida recently became another state to implement such a ban. Meanwhile, the Louisiana House recently passed HB 730, which would ban the practice in that state, and will now be taken up by the state Senate.

“We appreciate this growing sentiment at the state level, but we need a national policy to avoid a patchwork of laws across the nation,” said Coon. “Besides, when section 105 becomes law, airports and state and local tax collectors can still collect fees, they just wouldn’t be able to use an aircraft collision avoidance device to do so.”