Officials at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association report they continue to hear weekly from pilots expressing frustration and opposition about the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data for purposes other than its intended purpose — air traffic safety and airspace efficiency.
On Feb. 18, 2025, AOPA President and CEO Darren Pleasance sent a letter to Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau urging the agency to halt the use of ADS-B data in ways that go beyond its original intent.
Pleasance points out in the letter that prior to the FAA’s ADS-B mandate becoming effective in 2020, AOPA supported the mandate “as we were assured ADS-B would only be used to improve air traffic safety and airspace efficiencies.”
However, he points to several recent examples that show the expanding use of ADS-B information outside of its intended purpose, including:
- Questionable FAA enforcement actions against legal water landings
- Frivolous lawsuits filed against pilots for nuisance, trespass, and causing emotional distress despite operating at high altitude and in full compliance with FAA regulations
- Third-party companies using ADS-B data to access personal data to collect airport fees from pilots
“Aircraft owners invested over half a billion dollars of their own money to comply with the ADS-B mandate, believing it would only be used to make flying safer and more efficient. Instead, they are increasingly being targeted with enforcement actions, legal harassment, and bills from third parties to collect airport fees — things that are far from the equipage mandate’s original purpose. We will advocate to protect pilots’ privacy and ensure ADS-B remains a tool used solely for its intended purpose — safety and airspace efficiency,” said Pleasance.
The letter acknowledged past efforts to address ADS-B privacy, but emphasized that more work remains.
“We fully appreciate the efforts and collaboration FAA has had with industry in developing the Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD) program and the Privacy ICAO Address (PIA) program. Congress also recently took a positive step to further limit the uses of ADS-B data for certain enforcement actions in last year’s FAA Reauthorization,” the letter reads.
“Unfortunately, given the continued concerns from pilots across the country regarding the use of ADS-B data for non-safety issues, there is more to do in this area, and I look forward to working with you, the FAA, and Congress, to address this important matter,” Pleasance concluded.
You can read the full letter here.
If airports and businesses are allowed to abuse the ADSB system for their own gain, pilots will start shutting them off or de-installing, compromising the FAA’s improved safety promises.
Just think if people were required to equip their automobiles with an expensive piece of electronics that constantly broadcast their position and speed for the government to monitor in the name of safety. They might say that it allows them to spot congested routes and advise of alternatives and find the locations of accidents or other conditions that are stopping traffic.
Now lets look at what they are actually using it for. They are constantly monitor your speed and send out a ticket if you go one mph over. Monitor for a full stop at all stop signs. Monitor for following too close to other vehicles. Send you bills for roadway usage (gets the electrics paying their fair share). Gets you sued by individuals who claim you are making too much noise or using a quite neighborhood as a short cut against local but unofficial signage. Gets you in trouble with spouses and such for being places you should not be.
Take all of that and see how much luck they would have keeping those alternate uses or even keep the mandate from being revoked or just outright ignored. That is what the non-pilot community would feel about a comparable situation.
Exactly the issue.!!!
It has some value for aircraft on a flight plan and in areas without radar coverage and weak mode C.
Note that if your aircraft is equipped with ADSB-out, it is a violation to turn it off. !
It would be interesting to know if it is legal to remove the ADSB equipment once it has been installed and certified. ?
I had decided to not equip. I don’t need to fly in class C or B airspace and it is only a little added flight time to fly around it.
If you are relying on it to detect nearby aircraft with adsb, note that just over 1/2 of the GA fleet are equipped. So you will not ‘see’ some aircraft.
I’ve considered investing in ADSB for my plane, but won’t be doing so now…
I hope this surprises no one. Of course this is happening, And don’t expect the alphabets to “help” All they do is tell you how to comply. They really don’t fight anything. Maybe send a letter that gets ignored.
The problem with pilots turning off ADS-B in order to theoretically prevent harassment from any source is it’s a lot like cutting off one’s nose to spite the face. There’s no doubt that ADS-B enhances safety, especially in the mountains where I have often flown. It allows ATC to “see” aircraft where radar can’t because of terrain obscuration. It allows me to see other aircraft on my iPad, and for them to see me if they’re so equipped. It gives me in-cockpit weather albeit delayed. Lots of good reasons to have it.
But allowing ADS-B to be used for other than safety reasons is flat out wrong. 3rd parties shouldn’t be allowed to use it at all, and the FAA should not be using it for questionable enforcement processes. It’s a good thing—the FAA should make sure it stays that way.
I have always said “Don’t trust the government on anything” they lie too much.
I was just issued a tax bill from my State Department of Revenue using my ADSB to track my whereabouts for use taxes. They went back over two years and tracked my flights. Big Brother is watching!!!
Not sure why anyone is surprised at this. Everything the government touches, turns to a mess. We should have adapted the Swiss FLARM system, developed by sailplane enthusiasts and costing a fraction of ADS-B. Any airplane I own in the future will be one excluded from ADS-B. I have been flying since 1973 and managed just fine without it.
If ADSB is going to be used for other purposes contrary to the FAA’s promises of increased flight safety, flight safety is going to be compromised as pilots will start shutting them off.
All this abuse of the ADSB mandate, and barely over 1/2 of the GA aircraft are equipped.!
Of course, those aircraft without an electrical system are not likely to equip, and maybe the others don’t see any value in equipping ?
It would be interesting to see a survey of aircraft owners why aircraft are not or will not be equipped !