Regulations and Government
FAA Updates ADS-B Privacy ICAO Address Program
Participants' information is no longer subject to Freedom of Information Act requests
FAA Privacy ICAO Address

In an update to its Privacy ICAO Address (PIA) program, the FAA has enabled CPDLC, exempted PIA-associated aircraft info from Freedom of Information Act requests, and changed the new request interval to 20 days. The FAA created the PIA program to help aircraft operators who prefer not to broadcast identifying information along with their ADS-B Out position information, via transmission of the aircraft’s unique ICAO address.

While PIA doesn’t prevent tracking of an aircraft’s position, it does limit “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 air traffic control (ATC) services,” according to the FAA.