Private plane owners can hide flight info from public under new law

WASHINGTON (TND) — Airplane owners can ask the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conceal information identifying them under the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 President Joe Biden signed into law earlier this month.

The act requires the FAA to establish a process that allows private aircraft owners to ask the agency to hide personally identifiable information from the public.

The bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization is a big win for travelers, the aviation workforce, and our economy,” Biden said. “It will expand critical protections for air travelers, strengthen safety standards, and support pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers.”

The president and Congress approved the law nearly five months after Taylor Swift sent a cease-and-desist letter to Jack Sweeney, a college student who tracked and posted her flight information on X. Swift accused Sweeney of disregarding people’s safety for public attention and financial gain, according to the student.

“You have engaged in stalking and harassing behavior, including consistently publishing real-time and precise information about our Client’s location and future whereabouts to the public on social media,” Katie Morrone, who represented the singer with Venable LLP, purportedly said. “This conduct poses an immediate threat to the safety and wellbeing of our Client and must stop.”

Sweeney also posted the flight information of Elon Musk’s private jet before the billionaire suspended him from X in 2022. Musk claimed Sweeney “supported harm” to his family after a stalker purportedly followed one of his children.

Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation,” Musk said. “This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.”

Sweeney has denied endangering Swift and Musk.

Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo. and the act’s sponsor, argued the legislation improved safety in the U.S. aviation system.

“The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 is one of the farthest reaching, most consequential pieces of legislation this House will consider in the 118th Congress,” he said. “For over a century, the United States has led the world in aviation safety and innovation, and this bill is critical to ensuring America remains the global leader in aviation.”

The legislation reauthorized the agency’s safety programs and infrastructure for five years.

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