Access to Information: "FAA Moves to Limit Blockout System Hiding Private Jet Flights"
The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing rules that would prevent private plane owners from keeping their flight records secret unless they can provide a valid security concern.
The FAA said the practice of blocking flights from real-time tracking data had created a transparency issue and cited a federal court ruling involving a Freedom of Information Act request that had been filed by ProPublica.
In recent months, blocked flights have prevented the public from learning details about a plane suspected of being used for gold smuggling, a prominent minister accused of sexual abuse involving private jet trips and the travels of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during a major snowstorm.
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Note: There are many sites to track flights on the Internet and also access historical information. If we had to select only one it would be FlightAware. If publicly available, private flight info is included in their database.
FlightAware offers a sizable amount of data for free and even more after completing a free registration. They also provide fee-based services.
Filed under: Data Files, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.