The FAA hiding private jet details might not stop celebrity jet trackers

Yesterday, we wrote that a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) process would assistance backstage pitchy owners support their registration details backstage upon request, and speculated that it would marque things hard for personage pitchy trackers. Jack Sweeney, known for his accounts tracking the flights of celebrities like Elon Musk and Taylor Swift, says helium doesn’t deliberation it will.

In an email, Sweeney told The Verge that learning “who owns what planes already requires research,” and that helium and different pitchy trackers often “use the media and associated sources” alternatively than the FAA’s database of registrations. 

The FAA said connected Friday that it’s considering defaulting to withholding personally identifiable accusation from registration records. Even if pitchy trackers relied much connected the FAA’s database, Sweeney suspected that the regularisation doesn’t use to those who registry their jets with trusts oregon different entities, thing helium says backstage pitchy owners bash regularly. However, FAA spokesperson Kevin Morris told The Verge successful an email that erstwhile it says it volition withhold “personally identifiable information,” it’s referring “to some individuals and entities (trusts, LLCs, etc.) operating backstage aircraft.”

The FAA created its caller process to comply with caller requirements successful the Biden-era FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. The instrumentality was written successful effect to privateness concerns raised astir pitchy trackers similar Sweeney’s ElonJet relationship that Twitter banned successful 2022 and Meta aboriginal banned connected Threads and Instagram. 

We’ve besides reached retired to the National Business Aviation Association for remark connected Sweeney’s commentary.