FAA enables aircraft registration privacy
Owners can request personal information be withheld
The FAA has enabled a privacy program that allows aircraft owners to request that certain registration information be kept private, including their name and address.
The FAA announced on March 28 the privacy option is now enabled through the FAA Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services online portal, which allows owners to register aircraft and manage their registration records.
The agency streamlined the Privacy International Civil Aviation Organization Address, or PIA, program in late 2024.
While the PIA program applies only to ADS-B data, the newly enabled privacy request available through CARES affects the public availability of aircraft registration data displayed through the online registry.
“This program is long overdue and a significant win for pilot privacy,” said AOPA President Darren Pleasance. “This is a direct result of our advocacy efforts and our continued push for privacy. We are very appreciative of Congress and the FAA for taking this big step. It will most certainly have a positive impact and AOPA will continue to work with Congress and the FAA to ensure a pilot’s private information is fully protected.”
On a related note, in February, Pleasance also sent a letter to acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau, urging the agency to stand by its commitment to ensuring ADS-B data—which allows aircraft and air traffic control to determine location, speed, and other parameters—will not be used by third parties to collect airport fees from private pilots.
Pleasance also noted that in addition to ADS-B data being used for billing pilots for airport fees without their consent, pilots “are increasingly being targeted with enforcement actions and frivolous lawsuits—things that are far from the ADS-B equipage mandate’s original purpose.”
AOPA will continue to analyze the impact of the FAA’s new CARES privacy option and its effect on the use of ADS-B data for purposes other than air safety and efficiency.
