General aviation flight information to be made more public

Posted by John McHaleWASHINGTON, 30 May 2011. Federal aviation officials announced that they make flight plans and other general aviation information available to the public on-line. FAA officials will affect the change 60 days after the Federal Register is published. General aviation operators will not be able to use privacy as a reason to block Internet sites from showing their flight information such as registration number, flight path, departure point and destination, and flight length for all aircraft operations over the U.S. In the future, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will block public viewing of this information only after the operators certify that they have a valid security concern. As before, neither the sites nor the aircraft owner or operator will disclose the identity of persons on the flight, the purpose of the flight or the reason for the security concern.In the past corporations that own and operate aircraft, carriers, professional aviation organizations and government agencies have had access to the real-time flight information of both airlines and general aviation through the Aircraft Situational Display to Industry (ASDI) and National Airspace System Status Information (NASSI) websites. Other members of the public have been able to subscribe to this information with the data delayed five minutes for security reasons. While commercial air carriers' schedules are available to the public, the operations of general aviation aircraft cannot be tracked except through one of these electronic systems.In the future, the only way operators and owners of general aviation aircraft will be able to block displays of their flight information is by providing the FAA written certification that revealing this to the public would pose a valid security threat.The amendment finalizes a March 1 proposal.