August 4, 2011
By Paul Lowe
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) has authored legislation that would preserve the Block Aircraft Registration Request (Barr) program by preventing the FAA from disseminating identifying information about general aviation aircraft over the Internet against the wishes of aircraft owners and operators. Introduction of the Barr Preservation Act of 2011 (S. 1477) came on Tuesday, which was the day the FAA began severely limiting access to the Barr program only to aircraft owners and operators who can verify a “valid” security concern. “The senator recognizes that the government’s plans for Barr represent an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of aircraft owners and operators, a threat to the competitiveness of U.S. companies and a potential security risk to persons on board general aviation aircraft,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. S. 1477, which is cosponsored by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), notes in part that “the federal government’s dissemination to the public of information relating to noncommercial flight carried out by a private owner or operator of an aircraft, whether during or following the flight, does not serve a public policy objective.” Despite their FAA-processed requests for continued blocking, some operators have reported their tail numbers’ appearance on flight-tracking programs. According to NBAA, operators who experience this should contact the agency’s ASDI program office at asdi-programoffice@faa.gov or certifiedsecurityconcern@faa.gov.
Source: AIN ONLINE
Date: 2011-08-04