If you own an aircraft, you are likely aware that the name and address of aircraft owners has been publicly available on FAA’s Aircraft Registration Branch website. This has now changed.
Under 49 U.S.C. § 44114(b), private aircraft owners may now ask FAA to keep certain ownership information, like their name and address, private and not publicly available on FAA websites. Upon request, FAA will remove:
(a) the mailing address or registration address of the registered owner(s);
(b) an electronic address (including an email address) of a registered owner(s);
(c) the telephone number of a registered owner(s); and
(d) the name(s) of the aircraft owner(s).
The request may be made electronically through FAA’s Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services (“CARES”) to withhold this information from public display on all FAA websites. The registered owner must draft a request in PDF format stating that the aircraft owner is voluntarily requesting the removal of its name and address from public dissemination.
The aircraft owner must upload the document via the CARES system to submit the request. If the aircraft owner has a CARES account, the owner can login and e-file the request. Otherwise, the aircraft owner will first need to create a CARES account in order to then upload the request.
In connection with this change, FAA has also published a request for comment in the Federal Register to seek answers to the following questions:
- How often do people or organizations access or use registered owner information, and how is this information used?
- What would be the impact on privacy, safety, commerce, and accessibility of information if the identified categories of registered owner information are removed from public availability?
- How would the removal of such information affect the ability of stakeholders to perform necessary functions, such as maintenance, safety checks, and regulatory compliance?
- How should FAA implement the removal of identified categories of registered owner information from public availability?
- What would be the impact if the FAA removed such information for private aircraft owners categorically and permitted such owners to request copies of their information rather than removing such information only upon an individual request?
- What additional aircraft registration data should be removed from FAA websites?
FAA will use the comments it receives to determine the public’s views on the impacts of FAA removing certain aircraft registration data from its websites.
As with any action taken by FAA, it will be important to see how this change is actually implemented and the impacts, whether positive or negative, on aircraft owners as well as others who use and rely upon the aircraft ownership information available on FAA’s websites.
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