DOT Bars BARR Program

The FAA will block aircraft registration numbers "only after the operators certify that they have a valid security concern," the Department on Transportation announced in a press release on Friday.

This change essentially ends the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program.

NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen expressed outrage in an NBAA statement and argued that the rule change reduces privacy protections and makes private aircraft activity more vulnerable. Opponents to the FAA change have begun to call the new rule the "Paparazzi Protection Rule."

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood cited the Obama administration's commitment to transparency and the use of public airspace and air traffic control infrastructure by privately owned and operated aircraft as reasons for the elimination of the program.

The BARR program is included in the House of Representatives' FAA reauthorization legislation but not the Senate's version. A conference committee is reconciling the two different bills.

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