Support is growing to prohibit the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data to collect fees from pilots\u2014in Congress, where the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (PAPA) is gaining cosponsors, in state capitols across the country, and among top aviation safety officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cADS-B data should never be used for accessing a pilot\u2019s personal information or for being used as a cash register. It should be used for its intended purpose\u2014to give pilots situational awareness to help avoid mid-air collisions and for controllers to create airspace efficiencies. When the nation\u2019s leading transportation safety expert, state legislatures, airports, companies, and hundreds of thousands of pilots all support PAPA, it\u2019s time to address this situation,\u201d said AOPA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Advocacy Jim Coon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also important to point out that none of these bills\u2014at the federal or state level\u2014would prevent an airport from charging \u2018necessary and appropriate\u2019 landing fees. Anyone claiming that is just spreading misinformation. They simply block the use of this safety-enhancing tool to collect them,\u201d added Coon. \u201cIn light of the DCA accident last year, Congress is debating an ADS-B mandate. That safety goal is undermined as long as this safety tool is being used for collecting fees and not enhancing safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Support is also growing at the state level. The Florida House of Representatives passed a similar bill\u2014SB 422\u2014yesterday, sending it to Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019s desk. Montana was the first state to ban the collection of ADS-B-based fees from most general aviation pilots in May 2025. Lawmakers in more than a dozen other states, including Arizona, Oklahoma, and Minnesota, have introduced or are considering introducing similar bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are grateful to state lawmakers across the country who recognize the importance of this issue, and its impact on aviation safety. Despite the state-level momentum, a patchwork solution isn\u2019t enough to make the skies safer for all of us\u2014only Congress can fully resolve this problem with a uniform law for all states,\u201d said Coon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airports in a number of states\u2014including Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, California, and Ohio, among others\u2014have also endorsed PAPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the practice \u201cshould be prohibited\u201d at a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on February 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cADS-B is a safety tool, and it should be used for safety, not as a revenue generator to charge general aviation pilots ramp fees or landing fees,\u201d said Homendy, adding that ADS-B-derived fees could discourage pilots from installing or using the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no question that ADS-B has been a gamechanger for general aviation pilots,\u201d said AOPA Air Safety Institute Senior Vice President Mike Ginter. \u201cWhile we\u2019re in one of the safest periods for general aviation in our nation\u2019s history, there is a lot of concern out there that the continued use of ADS-B to charge fees would reverse that trend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Support is growing to prohibit the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data to collect fees from pilots\u2014in Congress, where the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (PAPA) is gaining cosponsors, in state capitols across the country, and among top aviation safety officials. \u201cADS-B data should never be used for accessing a pilot\u2019s personal information or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34512,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34511\/revisions\/34512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}