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Welcome to the twenty third edition of Private Jet Insider.
A lot of people have asked me why I haven't written in a month.
Well, I've been doing some traveling with my family and also spent a week in Montana completely unplugged. If you haven't unplugged for a few days (for me, it was three days), I highly suggest it.
The upside for you? You know you're not reading ChatGPT generated junk, and you're actually reading my thoughts. Thanks for the patience.
A topic that is becoming more and more important is that of privacy. I mean, it's called a Private Jet for a reason. With the advent of technology and some bad actors though, privacy is on the mind of many. I want to break down the history of how we got here, and some relevant information in today's regulatory environment that could bring relief to some of those obsessed with privacy.
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Those of us who are perpetually online remember the Twitter accounts that tracked Elon Musk's and Taylor Swift's private jets. For me, it was the first time I realized that Elon works harder than any other human on the face of the planet. Watching his movements across the US was impressive, even before Walter Isaacson's biography came out (highly suggest reading, by the way).
While I was an innocent admirer, and the creator of @ElonJet was an innocent admirer as well, there were those that used that real-time data tracking to threaten Elon's security and safety.
Unfortunately, there are bad people in the world.
Some make the case that Elon bought Twitter to shut down Jack Sweeney's account. He had previously offered $5,000 to shut down the account. In November 2022 he pledged not to ban the account despite it being a "direct personal safety risk," however on December 14th, 2022 @ElonJet was officially suspended citing a new policy against sharing "live location" data.
It was all public data that Jack was accessing.
So how did we get here?
How Aircraft Transmit Information
Radar has been around since World War II, primarily used in military applications to tell the difference between friend or foe. A useful tool when at war, but it was pretty limited in the information that was taken in on the screen. I won't bore you with the technicals, but there are a few structural components you need to understand.
Mode A and Mode C Transponders
Modern Garmin Mode C Transponder
In the 1960's, military transponders were modified for civilian use, with two primary types of transponders that transmit information to ATC.
Mode A: replies a 4-digit octal code for the aircraft, assigned by ATC (air traffic control) before or during each flight
Mode C: a 12-bit coded transmission that also gives pressure altitude. This helps ATC see what altitude a given aircraft is at
These modes help identify an aircraft that is in flight, but the technology is still limited as it was developed in the 1960's.
The Introduction of Mode S
Mode S is a beacon radar system which took 10 years to develop (1969 to 1979 by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.) The key is that each aircraft is assigned a unique fixed 24-bit address which means there are 16 million+ addresses available (16,777,216 to be exact).
Take a note, we'll come back to this: Each airplane equipped with a Mode S transponder is is assigned a unique 24-bit address and that does not change.
When the Internet Changed Everything
In the 1990s the Federal Aviation Administration began releasing air traffic data back to the airline industry in hopes of improving management of planes and crews. This was done via "ADSI" which contained location, altitude, airspeed, destination, ETA, and tail number/identifier for aircraft operating on an IFR flight plan.
The BARR Program: 2000
The availability of this data concerned the National Business Aviation Association and other private jet lobbies. In consultation with the NBAA, the FAA created the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program, which since 2000 allows aircraft owners to block their tracking information in the ADSI data feed. It did not, however, alter or encrypt the ADS-B/Mode S transmissions themselves... it only prevented the aircraft’s registration, callsign or flight number from appearing on the FAA’s ASDI.
Another kicker, you had to demonstrate a bona-fide "privacy and industrial security concern" in order to block it. So not everyone could block their tail number for any reason.
FlightAware Leads the Way: 2005
Early Flight Aware Screenshot
FlightAware became one of the first major public flight tracking websites, using the ADSI FAA data feeds to show aircraft movements in real-time. This was revolutionary... for the first time, anyone with an internet connection could track aircraft movements.
The founder's motivation was personal: After flying in his Cessna 182, he realized there was no readily available technology for his friends and family to track his flights. He worked with the FAA to create a transparent interface with the ATC system.
FlightRadar24 was founded in 2006 in Sweden and today is the largest ADS-B network in the world, but they still block tail numbers at the request of operators.
The ADS-B Mandate: 2010
ADS-B was running a parallel path to ADSI feeding Flight Aware. ADS-B stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, which was revolutionary because it broadcast from the aircraft to all devices the Identification (the unique ICAO 24-bit address assigned to that aircraft), Position (GPS and altitude), Velocity (speed, vertical rate, turn indication), Aircraft and Operational Status (what type aircraft).
In 2010, the FAA announced that all aircraft operating in Class A, B, C, and E (above 10,000 feet) airspace would require ADS-B out by January 1st, 2020.
The Basement Bros Discover RTL-SDR: 2012
As stated above, the "B" in "ADS-B" stands for "broadcast" which means that anyone, in theory, could receive it. Professional ADS-B receivers cost $200-$1000 and were the only viable way to pick up this information.
Then, some dudes in their basement figured out a cheap $20 RTL-SDR can receive the frequency that ADS-B transmits at.
Cue: the open web doing what the open web does best! Create a network!
ADS-B Exchange Founded: 2016
Dan Streufert founded ADS-B Exchange as a typical indie hacker internet program, unable to be censored or suppressed by governments or corporations.
ADS-B Exchange took a fundamentally different approach than FlightAware... they provided unfiltered data with no blocking capabilities, because the network of personal receivers receiving the ADS-B transmissions from aircraft were synthesized together.
FlightAware eventually took the note and started using their own network of RTL-SDR dongles, but they still had the legacy obligation of blocking information (you still can't get a fully unfiltered view in FlightAware).
Public Record Aircraft Tails
The FAA has always maintained public aircraft registration records. The Aircraft Registration Branch maintains registration records on individual aircraft and serves as a repository for airworthiness documents received from FAA field offices.
The data in the download is refreshed daily at 11:30 pm central time and includes:
Aircraft registration number (N-number)
Owner name and address
Aircraft make, model, and serial number
Registration status and dates
If you're sharp, which I know you are because you read this newsletter, you'll see where our issue is... it's not terribly hard to pair together a tail number and an aircraft owner, find the unique hex code, and now that information is forever available to an army of ADS-B receivers. Womp womp.
Don't believe me? Google "Jeff Bezos Tail Number" then add "FAA Data" to the back half of the tail number. Look at the Mode S Code. Public...
The Double Blind Trust
The most popular provider of a double blind trust, which is a way to mask the ownership of the beneficial owner of the aircraft, is TVPX. They are a great firm, and I highly recommend using them if security is of that level of concern.
Unfortunately, all it takes is one paparazzi to snap a picture of your tail number for that privacy work to be useless. It can be good for taxes and foreign ownership, but for privacy, its useless. That hex number is still tied to you. And will always be trackable.
Brings Us To Today: The Jack Sweeney Era
If you are pop culture aware, you'll know that @elonjet was a big scandal, which was an automated way of taking ADS-B data and tracking/doxing where Elon Musk was in real time.
The founder of that account is Jack Sweeney. I have met Jack a few times, and he's an incredibly sharp guy. He was a teenager at the heyday of ADS-B exchange, so he had an idea. Technically, its not very complicated to track Elon. Once the hex code was known, the rest of the information was easy. It just made one of the richest guys in the world really really mad.
Jack had one request to take the account down: a Tesla. But alas, Elon did not want to give Jack a Tesla so instead he bought Twitter and changed the T's and C's to stop doxing real data in real time. Unfortunately, the information is out and Elon will forever be able to be tracked via ADS-B Exchange.
The Private Jet Industry Got Caught Sleeping
While the industry was focused on outdated technology, they didn't see the real decentralized revolution and now it might be too late.
The toothpaste is out of the tube, and you can't put it back in.
The network is decentralized, and as long as the FAA requires ADS-B out and doesn't allow hex code scrambling, people will be able to be tracked. Although the FAA has at least woke up to this, it might be too little- too late.
The FAA PIA Program - Blocking
In 2019 the FAA passed the PIA program, which stands for the Privacy ICAO Address. But not many planes use them. As of October 1, 2020, only 74 aircraft had registered. This morning when I looked via Wing-X and ADS-B Exchange, only 5 aircraft were flying under the PIA program.
Essentially, what it does is it allows you to use an anonymous "duped" hex code that leads to a dead end. It does not transmit the make/model and it can be changed every 20 days. It allows you to mask the identity of the aircraft to avoid the flight tracking apps, while the FAA still receives the full readout of your information for safety. It is also exempt from FOIA requests, so it really does allow privacy.
But its also big PIA (pain in the ass), hence the low adoption.
Until next week,
Preston Holland
P.s. Send this to your friend who has no privacy concerns but should buy a private jet. Then you can fly willy-nilly together and enjoy being doxed by photographers.
