Point of Law: Steps To Keeping Private Aircraft Information Private

For many of us, when we see a beautiful airplane on the ramp, we look up the N-number on our phone to see who the owner might be. Just idle curiosity. But some private aircraft owners are very private. Famously, Elon Musk offered a high school student $5,000 a few years ago to stop tracking Musk’s private jet. The student countered with a demand for $50,000, and the feud continued for some time.

Recently, the FAA increased the options available to aircraft owners to keep their information private. Private aircraft owners and operators can now electronically request that the FAA withhold their aircraft registration information (name and address) from public view. And no, this was not at the behest of Mr. Musk—this option was mandated in last year’s FAA Reauthorization Act.

Soon, the FAA will publish a request for comment in the Federal Register to seek input on this measure to find out:

1. How often do people or organizations access or use registered owner information, and how is this information used?
2. What would be the impact on privacy, safety and accessibility of information if the identified categories of registered owner information are removed from public availability?
3. How would the removal of such information affect the ability of stakeholders to perform necessary functions, such as maintenance, safety checks and regulatory compliance?
4. How should the FAA implement the removal of identified categories of registered owner information from public availability?
5. What would be the impact if the FAA removed such information for a private aircraft owner or operator categorically and permitted such owners and operators to request copies of their information rather than removing such information only upon an individual request?
6. What additional aircraft registration data should be removed from FAA websites?

The FAA is also evaluating whether to default to withholding the personally identifiable information of private aircraft owners and operators from the public aircraft registry and providing a means for owners and operators to download their data when needed.

If you want to make the privacy request now, here are the instructions for submission:

1. Prepare a request in PDF format stating that you are voluntarily requesting the removal of your name and address from public dissemination.
2. Upload the document via the FAA’s Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services (CARES) system to submit your request.

If you have a CARES account, you can login and e-file your request. If you do not have a CARES account, you will need to create one. Go to the Getting Started link on the CARES homepage for instructions.

For those who seek to keep their aircraft ownership private, the quest is neverending. A simple way to test this is to type your N-number into a Google search and look at the results. You will probably find:

1. Flight tracking history.
2. Aircraft ownership history from the FAA, repeated on a number of sites.
3. Photos and specifications from when it was on the market for sale.
4. Detailed pictures of a model of the aircraft (yes, the exact aircraft).
5. Pictures of the aircraft at a variety of airports, with the date, time and location listed.

If you are concerned about flight-stalking, then the FAA may be the least of your problems. Even after the FAA stops publishing an owner’s name and address at the owner’s request, that data will still be available on a wide variety of websites.

The majority of these websites are not nefarious or meant to invade anyone’s privacy. Some of us just love airplanes. I have owned a variety of photogenic aircraft, and I have found the best photos of my own airplanes on social media. I have reached out to the photographers on several occasions and purchased the rights to use the photos. The aircraft all have “JETLAW” conspicuously painted on them, because we are proud members of the aviation community.

But, if flight-stalking is a concern, then it would be wise to use the new FAA option to block the owner's name and address from the FAA website. Then, consider changing the ownership to a trust, perhaps a double-blind trust, since the old FAA information will still be listed on so many easily searchable websites. And, finally, if you have not already done so, file a request with the FAA for Aircraft Tail Number Blocking.