The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has rolled out significant changes in 2025 that limit the public’s ability to track private jets.
These updates are rooted in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 signed by President Biden in May last year. They respond to long-standing privacy concerns from high-profile figures like Elon Musk and Taylor Swift.
For years, jet owners have pushed back against public tracking of their flights. Now, they’ve got their wish, but not everyone’s happy about it.
Changes in FAA Rules
Before these rule changes, anyone could access ownership details of private jets through the FAA’s civil registry. This public database listed names, addresses, and tail numbers.
Enthusiasts and activists paired this info with radar data, like Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) signals, to monitor flights. It was easy to see where a light jet took off, landed, or even how much fuel it burned.
The new CAA ruling flips that system on its head. Owners can now request their personal details be hidden from the registry using the Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services (CARES) platform.
This breaks the direct link between a jet’s tail number and its owner. The FAA has also strengthened privacy tools like the Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD) program.
This scrubs flight data from public feeds, and the Privacy ICAO Address (PIA) program, which assigns temporary codes to mask a plane’s identity. Owners just need to cite safety or security concerns to opt in.
What Caused the Shift?
Privacy has been the driving force. Celebrities and billionaires argue that public tracking exposes them to risks—think stalkers or corporate espionage.
Elon Musk famously clashed with a college student who tracked his jet on X, even offering him money to stop.
Taylor Swift’s team has also flagged safety threats from flight data being so open. The FAA listened, and now it’s weighing a bigger change: making privacy the default for all jet registrations. That idea is still in the works, with public feedback being reviewed.
Does It Stop Tracking Completely?
Not quite. While the new rules make it tougher, they don’t kill tracking entirely. Savvy trackers can still piece together clues.
This could include spotting a jet at an airport or matching flight patterns to known habits. But it’s no longer a simple lookup. The extra effort means casual trackers are out of luck, though determined ones might still crack the puzzle.
The Debate Heats Up
This shift has sparked something of a tug-of-war. On one side, jet owners and privacy advocates cheer the move. They say it’s a basic right to keep personal travel under wraps.
On the other hand, environmentalists as well as aviation enthusiasts are fuming. Private jets emit far more carbon per passenger than commercial flights, and groups tracking these planes say the rich are dodging accountability. With climate change in the spotlight, they argue transparency matters more than ever.
Looking Ahead
The FAA’s changes mark a pivot toward privacy in aviation, but the story is still not yet not over. As public comments roll in, we’ll see if the agency doubles down or tweaks the rules.
For now, tracking your favorite celebrity’s jet just got a lot trickier, and the skies became a bit more secretive.
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