The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association urged the Federal Aviation Administration to intervene on behalf of general aviation (GA) pilots (including 300,000 AOPA members) and block the use of FAA-mandated aircraft tracking technology by third parties to assess fees based on aircraft movements—a practice that raises many concerns, including violation of privacy, and violation of federal grant obligations by public airports.
The satellite-based technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, was made mandatory in 2020 for aircraft flying near busy airports. It allows the FAA to monitor air traffic more effectively than radar, particularly in places where radar coverage is not available.
Using this data to assess landing fees at airports is a purpose for which ADS-B was never intended.
AOPA President and CEO Mark Baker urged FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker to prevent third-party use of ADS-B data for purposes other than optimizing air traffic control safety and efficiency in a September 12 letter. Baker voiced concerns about privacy, and the fact that the practice of using an automated processes to impose additional fees on pilots undermines the vital flight training industry and will further discourage pilots from equipping with ADS-B or cause pilots to cut back on flying. Pilot proficiency is a key ingredient to safety, and imposing more fees will discourage this.
Baker noted that tens of thousands of individual aircraft owners have invested $6,000 (or more) per aircraft, a collective total of $1 billion, to enable the FAA to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system. Unlike airlines, these private owners are unable to recoup expenses—including landing fees, which were not feasible at many airports until ADS-B was implemented.
“We agreed to support the mandate, in large part, because of assurances received that ADS-B was to be used solely to modernize and improve air traffic safety,” Baker wrote.
More recently, Congress expressly prohibited the FAA from using ADS-B data to investigate the actions of airmen in the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act (PL118-63), Baker noted, though third parties are finding other uses for the data: “For example, an increasing number of airports, including many that are grant-obligated, are using or plan to use ADS-B data to identify aircraft so that airports can charge pilots landing fees.”
Baker said this practice undermines the airspace safety that ADS-B was created to enhance.
“The fact that ADS-B data is being utilized as a revenue-generating mechanism is simply wrong and has the potential to create safety issues due to a reduction in pilot training and operational pilot currency,” Baker wrote, adding that while most aircraft are now equipped to transmit ADS-B information, “this practice could discourage those who have not yet done so.”
AOPA recently reported on fees proposed by certain Florida airports that could “devastate” one of the most important flight training regions in the country if they are implemented.
