CAA: GA News, "FAA reauthorization bill includes order to release pilot info"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@cwnet.com>]

Friday, April 28, 2000

FAA reauthorization bill includes order to release pilot info
GA News


LAKELAND, Florida — By order of Congress, the FAA will soon begin posting
small nuggets of pilot information on the Internet.

If you fear for your privacy, you’ll have an opportunity to tell the agency
to keep its lips zipped.

At Sun ’n Fun’s “Meet the FAA” session April 10, Peggy Gilligan told a
smaller-than-usual crowd of onlookers that the recently passed FAA
reauthorization bill includes a provision that requires the FAA to release
pilot names, addresses and ratings.

The agency, Gilligan said, will soon be sending letters to airmen. If you
want to keep your “name, rank and serial number” confidential, just tell the
FAA by returning the letter. Otherwise, the information will be posted on a
government Web site during the next couple of months.

“I think Congress balanced the privacy concerns that individuals might have
against the ability to provide safety information beyond what the FAA is
able to put out,” said Gilligan, the FAA’s deputy associate administrator
for regulation and certification.

Gilligan was one of five national and regional FAA officials who came to Sun
’n Fun for a meet-and-greet session with general aviation pilots. In the
audience were John and Martha King of King Schools in San Diego.

The Kings, as well as dozens of other industry leaders, have been after the
federal government for more than two years to overturn its decision to
withhold information about airmen. That action was rooted in concerns about
violating the federal Privacy Act. People, for instance, who have been
harassed or physically abused complained that their safety was being
jeopardized when drivers-license information was available to the public.

The issue with industry leaders and aviation business people is the ability
to communicate with their audience. The Kings, who produce and market a vast
line of aviation training materials and other pilot supplies, admit a
commercial interest, but they say pilot safety is jeopardized when they don’
t have names and addresses.

“There is a lot of safety information that goes out to pilots that is
fostered by aviation businesses,” Martha King said. “The FAA cannot afford
to send all of its safety information out. As a byproduct of the commercial
activity that the business takes on, a lot of them feel a responsibility to
their aviation community and they feel they want to give pilots something of
value along with any commercial message that they’re sending out. There was
a great deal of industry-disseminated safety information that people lost.”

Over the years, King Schools has sent out 700,000 free videos on crosswind
landings. “We were prevented from doing that when the list got cut off,”
John King said. “The FAA really doesn’t have the resources to work on safety
with pilots the way that the industry can. They guide and direct and provide
the infrastructure. They really don’t provide safety training; that’s not
the FAA’s business.”

Aviation alphabet groups also felt the information embargo.

“A number of organizations like EAA and AOPA and others have traditionally
put out a lot of safety information, and they were not able to do that when
they were unable to get updated lists,” Gilligan said.

After going through the hills and valleys of enjoying access to information
on every airman, to losing access, to regaining partial access, the Kings
said they can live with the compromise.

“We don’t want to mail to someone who doesn’t want to receive it,” John King
said. “We’re pleased with this; it’s a nice result.”


   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

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