Reinstatement of BARR Program
December 6, 2011
By:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on December 2 announced that, effective immediately, aircraft owners wanting to enroll aircraft in the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program would no longer need to provide a “valid security concern” in order to be included in the program. The BARR program permits aircraft operators with privacy and industrial security concerns for their operations resulting from the availability of ASDI data to request that this data be blocked from public dissemination. Aircraft Situation Display to Industry (ASDI) data allows individuals to track the minute-by-minute progress of their, or other, aircraft in real-time, through several vendors (e.g., www.flightaware.com).
The FAA had attempted to modify and severely restrict the availability of the BARR program by requiring that aircraft owners provide it with a “valid security concern” to enroll in the program. The Department of Transportation’s budget, which was passed last month, included language prohibiting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from continuing to implement the “valid security concern” prerequisite to aircraft owners and operators’ ability to opt out from having their movements broadcast over the Internet.
The FAA is now accepting new BARR program blocking requests. Detailed information regarding how to block or unblock an aircraft pursuant to the BARR program is available on the website of the National Business Aviation Association at: http://www.nbaa.org/ops/security/barr.
Please contact us with any questions regarding the BARR program or if you need our assistance with preparing a BARR.
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