ADS-B Privacy

ADS-B Out operates by transmitting the aircraft's unique ICAO aircraft address, making identification by any individual with an ADS-B receiver possible. Real-time tracking of the geographic location of a specific aircraft is possible, generating privacy concerns for the aircraft operator community. The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), and members of the General Aviation (GA) community have cited the lack of privacy as a barrier to ADS-B Out equipage.

In order to mitigate these concerns, FAA has initiated the Privacy ICAO aircraft address program with the objective of improving the privacy of aircraft operators in today's ADS-B environment by limiting the extent to which the aircraft can be quickly and easily identified by non-U.S. government entities, while ensuring there is no adverse effect on ATC services.

Other ICAO member states currently do not offer this capability, so it is being limited to U.S. domestic operations to avoid potential conflicts.

Aircraft equipped with Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) ADS-B avionics, including dual 1090/UAT equipped aircraft, are currently not qualified for PIA assignment.

A third-party call sign enables the operator to maintain privacy while in communication with ATC while allowing FAA, as necessary, to obtain the identification of the aircraft and its operator for response to security related request from DoD, DHS or local law enforcement. Third-party call signs are available from a "Third Party Call Sign Provider", a commercial service which has a security agreement with FAA.

The aircraft operator is responsible for inputting the PIA and designated third-party call sign in avionics exactly as filed in the ICAO flight plan. The aircraft operator will not be permitted to change the PIA or the third-party call sign in-flight.

An interim Privacy ICAO aircraft address website (Phase 1) is currently in place to meet industry concerns, while the agreement and implementation actions for a long-term solution are pursued.

Once the long-term solution (Phase 2) is in place, the interim solution will be retired.

PIA assignment agreements obtained as part of the first phase of this program will be terminated or with agreement from the assignee, transitioned to the third-party service provider at that time.

A link to the relevant PIA application site will be available from this web page during both Phase 1 and Phase 2.

In order to receive a PIA assignment, the requester will be required to submit the following information:

1. Acknowledgement of the FAA notification of collection and management of personally identifiable information (PII) for the management of PIA assignment and their use in the NAS
2. Acknowledgement of the PIA Articles of Use in the NAS
3. Valid aircraft registration (permanent ICAO aircraft address) for the aircraft that will be assigned the PIA
4. Proof of authorization to use a third-party call sign with the identity of the provider
5. Aircraft owner's contact information (phone number, e-mail address, business or home address)
6. Aircraft owner's individual/company/organization information
7. Requester's contact information (phone number, e-mail address, business or home address)
8. Validation that the aircraft's ADS-B emitter performance is qualified for ADS-B operations (operator will self-validate on the website, but the system will check to see that a PAPR report was requested within the past 180 days)
9. Identify whether the PIA is requested for business or personal use.

The FAA will verify the information provided by the requester prior to assigning the PIA and ensure that there are no open FAA enforcement actions associated with the aircraft, which would preclude the aircraft's use of this mechanism for improved privacy until the current action is resolved.

Once the necessary information has been submitted, the requester should expect to receive a PIA assignment via email within 10 business days.

Upon receiving the assigned PIA, the requester has 30 calendar days to program his/her ADS-B transponder to the assigned PIA, fly in ADS-B coverage airspace, and complete the verification process via the website.

Once FAA acknowledges that the verification process is complete and validates that the reprogrammed ADS-B transponder is emitting the correct PIA, the requester will receive a final confirmation via email.

However, if the requester does not submit a PAPR within 30 calendar days of the PIA assignment, the assigned PIA will be rescinded, and the requester will need to start the application process again.

For the purposes of this program, a flight in any ADS-B airspace will suffice for the sake of a PIA test flight. Moreover, the test does not need to be a dedicated flight. Aircraft owners may elect to complete the test as part of any routine flight following the installation of a PIA. If you cannot perform a flight test within 30 calendar days of receiving your PIA assignment, please respond to the email you received issuing your PIA. The FAA may grant an extension if no other flights by that aircraft have occurred.

An aircraft operator will be able to request a new PIA assignment as follows:

Phase 1: Any time following a 60-calendar day period from a previous PIA assignment.

Phase 2: Any time following a 20-business day period from a previous PIA assignment.

All aircraft information held by FAA may be available from FAA via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) unless the information falls within an exception defined within law (5 U.S.C. § 552). This includes aircraft identification and historical flight information collected by NAS systems for flights which do not qualify for a FOIA exemption.

While an aircraft operator would be able to continue to use the PIA assignment as long as desired, aircraft operators may want to request a renewed PIA on a periodic basis.

To maintain the safety and integrity of air traffic operations, FAA monitors PIA use in the NAS. The following list includes improper uses of PIAs:

1. Use of PIAs assigned to another aircraft
2. Use of un-assigned PIAs
3. PIAs used during operations outside of domestic airspace
4. PIAs changed during flight
5. PIAs used with a non-performing ADS-B emitter
6. PIA used with a UAT or dual 1090/UAT emitter

PIAs used by an aircraft other than the aircraft to which the address is assigned results in a compliance violation of CFR § 91.227 and notification to the FAA. The FAA would have authority to revoke the PIA assignment. Upon reassignment, the aircraft would be required to fly with its registered ICAO aircraft address, and failure to do so would result in regulatory enforcement action by FAA, in addition to restriction on the assignment of additional privacy assignments to that aircraft until the enforcement action is closed. Upon detection, the aircraft owner/operator will be issued a warning that requires immediate action to remedy the issue before the next operation involving the assigned PIA. Failure to comply may result in the loss of the PIA assignment.

Please note: An aircraft operator may use the ICAO aircraft address originally assigned and recorded in the CAR at any time for operations, including any time while having an active PIA assignment. Use of the assigned ICAO aircraft address recorded in the CAR is required for all flights leaving U.S. sovereign airspace, and it may be used for any other flights at any time, as desired by the aircraft operator. The FAA requires that the user submits documented validation that an ICAO aircraft address has been correctly installed into the aircraft's ADS-B avionics after each change.

The Privacy ICAO aircraft address requestor will have to obtain a Public ADS-B Performance Report (PAPR) to ensure that the transponder does not exhibit any non-performing emitter (NPE) issues and is transmitting the correct ICAO aircraft address.

No, it is not necessary.

Yes, it will remain unchanged.

Yes, it is correct that the ADS-B data may be received by off-the-shelf receivers. However, the Privacy ICAO aircraft address (PIA) program is being implemented to enable interested aircraft owners to request an alternate, temporary ICAO aircraft address, which will not be assigned to the owner in the Civil Aviation Registry (CAR).

The LADD program does not impact the ADS-B broadcast data. The LADD program is designed to block aircraft data provided by the FAA data feed. However, the PIA program is intended to limit the extent to which an aircraft can be quickly and easily identified by inexpensive, commercially available receivers.

This program is intended for flights that start, terminate, and transit only within the territorial airspace of the United States (the airspace above the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories, and U.S. territorial waters).

A few examples are:

• A flight from NYC to LA is allowed.
• A flight from Miami to Houston, over the Gulf of Mexico, is not allowed.
• A flight from LA to Hawaii is not allowed, but a flight within a Hawaiian island (e.g. Honolulu to Kailua) is allowed.
• A flight from NYC to London is not allowed.

When using a PIA, flight operations are only permitted outside U.S. territorial airspace when temporarily directed by ATC, such as, but not limited to, vectoring to avoid weather, or while on departures/approaches from coastal airports. These provisions of air traffic services are separate from, and are not intended to support, operations or the regular filing of flight plans outside of domestic airspace (for more information, please refer to FAA Order JO 7400.2 - Procedures for Handling Airspace Matters and 80 FR 37710 Designation of Oceanic Airspace.)

For example:

• Severe weather avoidance vectoring or new route assignments are approved (e.g. Severe Weather Avoidance Plan [SWAP]).
• Departures or sequencing arrivals from coastal airports are approved (e.g. Boston Logan International Airport [BOS], Martha's Vineyard Airport [MVY], etc.).

No, the PIA cannot be changed or reprogrammed during a flight.

No, participation in the program is optional.

Currently, FAA will issue only one PIA at a time to an aircraft.

PIAs are valid for as long as desired, unless cancelled by FAA.

PIAs may be re-issued to other aircraft over time.

For the first phase of this program, there is no cost to the requestor. Details of the second phase of the program are still being finalized.

At this time, dual-out equipped aircraft are not eligible to participate in the PIA program.

PIA participants should follow the guidance provided by their ADS-B equipment manufacturer when making changes to their ICAO aircraft address.

For the purposes of this program, a third-party call sign can be obtained from FlightPlan, ForeFlight, FlightAware, or ARINCDirect. Please see the links below for more information:

FlightPlan

ForeFlight

FlightAware

ARINCDirect