FAA Reinstates BARR Program

Written By Allison Yau

A December 1, 2011 notice by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to reinstate the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program to its original reach should have general aviation aircraft owners and operators cheering: all owners and operators, and not just those with a Certified Security Concern, can once again block from public release private data about their plane’s activity. Originally enabled by Congress in 2000, the BARR program allows participants upon request to the FAA to block their N number (an aircraft’s unique registration number) when flying IFR (instrument flight rules: the rules and regulations established by the FAA to govern flight that depends on reference to instruments and electronic signals as opposed to outside visual reference), effectively also blocking any associated data with that number. Associated information includes the aircraft’s altitude, airspeed, destination, and estimated time of arrival.


This reinstatement follows the FAA’s initial proposal on March 4, 2011, to limit the use of the BARR program only to owners and operators providing a Certified Security Concern, established by showing a “Valid Security Concern” or a bona fide business-oriented security concern under Treasury Regulation 1.132-5(m). The proposal defined a “Valid Security Concern” as “a verifiable threat to person, property or company, including a threat of death, kidnapping or serious bodily harm against an individual, a recent history of violent terrorist activity in the geographic area in which the transportation is provided, or a threat against a company.” Qualifying aircraft owners and operators would have been required to annually submit written certification of the continued security concern.

Amidst opposition by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), and other pro-aviation interests, the proposal nevertheless went into effect on August 2, 2011. Chief among the proponents’ objections was that these limitations invaded privacy, posed security risks to those on-board the subject aircrafts, and threatened the United States’ ability to compete in business. In their August 29, 2011, opening brief in the action against the FAA, the NBAA and AOPA argued that the revisions made to the BARR program were unlawful and should be invalidated.

President Obama’s signing of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill on November 18, 2011, contained a provision to reinstate the BARR program. Following suit, the FAA officially reinstated the program to its original reach. In a letter dated December 1, 2011, from the Department of Justice to the court clerk in the NBAA and AOPA action, the FAA stated that “[e]ffective immediately,” it would “no longer require an owner or operator of general aviation aircraft or of an on-demand air charter aircraft (operating under 14 CFR Part 135) to submit a Certified Security Concern to block that owner or operator’s” N number and associated flight information, excepting data made available to the government.

The FAA is currently developing a permanent policy which will be consistent with the provisions of the recently signed appropriations bill. Meanwhile, in the interim, aircraft owners and operators may submit block requests to the FAA, and the FAA will also continue to block the N numbers of those who have already submitted Certified Safety Concerns. If you are an aircraft owner or operator, it would serve you well to look out for the FAA’s announcement of the permanent policy on the BARR program in the near future.

For more information on this topic, feel free to contact Ronnie R. Gipson Jr., Esq. at (415) 692-6523 or by email at Gipson@higagipsonllp.com.  Ronnie R. Gipson Jr. is an aviation attorney and a founding partner at Higa & Gipson, LLP in San Francisco.