03/03/2026
I want to bring your attention to important federal legislation that directly impacts general aviation across Minnesota and the country — the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (PAPA) of 2025 (S.2175 / H.R.4146).
This bipartisan bill is focused on protecting pilots and aircraft owners from the misuse of ADS-B data for revenue generation and non-safety tracking. As operators, maintenance providers, flight schools, airport businesses, and aircraft owners, this issue touches all of us.
What This Bill Does
ADS-B Data Restrictions
The legislation would prohibit any person or government agency from using ADS-B data to identify aircraft for the purpose of assessing fees or charges without the owner’s consent.
Limits on Non-Safety Use
Air traffic control would continue using ADS-B strictly for safety and operational efficiency. It prevents expansion of ADS-B into a fee enforcement or surveillance tool.
General Aviation Protections
Public-use airports would be required to provide greater transparency and justification before imposing landing or takeoff fees on general aviation aircraft.
Privacy Safeguards
The bill reinforces protections aligned with the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which allows owners to withhold certain registration data through CARES. It also aims to prevent back-door “sue-and-settle” tactics and unwarranted monitoring of aircraft activity.
MATA’s Position
While we support the intent of this legislation, we believe the protections should go further.
MATA supports expanding the language to clearly prohibit the use of ADS-B data for the assessment of fees under any circumstances — including situations where those fees are described as “fair” or “reasonable.” Once ADS-B data becomes an accepted mechanism for fee enforcement, the precedent is set. That shift fundamentally changes the purpose of a safety system into a revenue tool.
Transparency is important. Fairness is important. But privacy and the original safety intent of ADS-B must remain the priority.
Minnesota Has Already Taken Action
Here at home, Minnesota lawmakers addressed this issue during the 2025 session through HF3266 and SF3480. That legislation prohibits the state, political subdivisions such as airports, and private entities from using ADS-B data to calculate, generate, or collect fees from aircraft owners or operators.
This is an important step in protecting pilot privacy at the state level and reinforces the principle that ADS-B should be used for air traffic safety, not financial surveillance.
However, to provide the strongest and most durable protections for general aviation, we need this type of action in every state — not just at the federal level. Federal legislation sets the framework, but state-level protections ensure local airports and political subdivisions cannot work around that intent. Both layers are necessary.
What I’m Asking You To Do
Please take a few minutes to contact your U.S. Senators and Representative and ask them to support:
S.2175 / H.R.4146 – The Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act of 2025
And encourage them to strengthen the bill by explicitly prohibiting the use of ADS-B data for fee assessment in any form.
To find contact information for your U.S. Representative and Senators, visit:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
If you have relationships with your state legislators, I also encourage you to support similar protections at the state level and advocate for consistent safeguards across the country.
Personal outreach matters. A short email or phone call from constituents carries weight. If you have an existing relationship with your elected officials, now is the time to use it.
MATA exists to advocate for Minnesota’s aviation community. Engagement like this is how we protect our industry long term.
Thank you for taking the time to act.
Joe LaRue
President
Minnesota Aviation Trades Association
[email protected]
218-685-6594
Find your members of Congress by typing in your address on Congress.gov.
