In an e-mail, Sweeney informed The Verge that studying “who owns what planes already requires analysis,” and that he and different jet trackers usually “use the media and related sources” somewhat than the FAA’s database of registrations.
The FAA stated on Friday that it’s contemplating defaulting to withholding personally identifiable info from registration information. Even when jet trackers relied extra on the FAA’s database, Sweeney suspected that the rule doesn’t apply to those that register their jets with trusts or different entities, one thing he says personal jet house owners do commonly. Nonetheless, FAA spokesperson Kevin Morris informed The Verge in an e-mail that when it says it’ll withhold “personally identifiable info,” it’s referring “to each people and entities (trusts, LLCs, and many others.) working personal plane.”
We’ve additionally reached out to the Nationwide Enterprise Aviation Affiliation for touch upon Sweeney’s commentary.