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The owners of private planes not only get to fly all over the country at a moment's notice, they are allowed to block their flight plans from the government's air traffic system. As reported by ProPublica, all that's required is a request to the National Business Aviation Association, a trade group. A list of 1,100 blocked planes was obtained by the news organization after a 15-month public records battle. It's a pretty varied bunch, from our old pal Sam Zell to college booster clubs and athletic programs for the University of Alabama to Fortune 500 companies.
Use of the national airspace is generally considered public information because pilots - whether airline captains or recreational fliers - rely on a system of air traffic controllers, radars, runways and taxiways, lighting systems and towers that are all paid for or subsidized by taxpayers. As a result, flight data collected by the FAA in its air traffic control system - except for military and sensitive government flights - is public information. Web sites such as FlightAware post the data online, allowing anyone to observe the system and follow most planes virtually in real time.
The plane owners point out that there are legitimate reasons for privacy, such as competitors monitoring their movements during takeover efforts and CEOs wanting to maintain security for themselves and their families. Their points are well taken, but the program is not monitored. Anyone is eligible, including those college booster clubs. That's the problem.
The business aviation group administers the [Block Aircraft Registration Request] program in cooperation with the FAA, and plane owners have two options for keeping flights secret. In one, the NBAA sends a "block" list directly to private flight-tracking sites, which are bound by agreement with FAA to hide those planes. In the other, the NBAA sends a block list to the FAA, which hides the planes from data released to flight-tracking sites.
P.S. USA Today published a version of the ProPublica story but didn't mention that its parent company, Gannett, blocked its corporate jet.
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.