{"id":27311,"date":"2025-03-31T05:49:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T09:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=27311"},"modified":"2025-03-31T05:57:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T09:57:20","slug":"us-ops-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/us-ops-update\/","title":{"rendered":"US Ops Update: Privacy, IDs &#038; Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>FAA Enhances Aircraft Privacy:<\/strong> The FAA now allows private aircraft owners to request the removal of personal details from public FAA websites, enhancing privacy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>US Address Required Abroad:<\/strong> FAA certificate holders abroad must nominate a physical US address by April 2 (for new applicants) or July 7 (for existing holders) to retain their privileges, with professional services available for those without a US address.<\/li>\n<li><strong>REAL ID Deadline Looms:<\/strong> From May 7, all adult passengers on US commercial flights (including Part 135 charters) must present a REAL ID-compliant ID or other accepted identification, with private Part 91 flights exempt.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Notam System Fails Again:<\/strong> The US Notam system suffered another outage on March 22, raising concerns about its reliability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>FAA Tightens KDCA Helicopter Rules:<\/strong> After the Jan 29 mid-air collision, the FAA has closed a KDCA helicopter route, restricted non-essential ops, mandated ADS-B Out, and launched a broader safety review.<\/li>\n<li><strong>KDCA Drone Tests Trigger Alerts:<\/strong> On March 1, military counter-drone testing near KDCA triggered erroneous TCAS alerts, raising concerns over improper testing and its impact on civil aviation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>In Cognito<\/h4>\n<p>On March 28, the FAA began accepting requests from private aircraft owners to <strong>withhold personal details<\/strong> (such as name and address) from public access across all FAA websites.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s good news for business aviation, as it potentially makes it more difficult for members of the public to track the movement of <strong>privately owned aircraft<\/strong> for nefarious purposes.<\/p>\n<p>Aircraft owners can now submit their request via the Civil Aviation Registry (CARES) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/about\/initiatives\/cares\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Address for Service<\/h4>\n<p>Attention all <strong>FAA License holders abroad<\/strong> \u2013 this one\u2019s for you!<\/p>\n<p>The FAA has written a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2024\/10\/08\/2024-22000\/us-agents-for-service-on-individuals-with-foreign-addresses-who-hold-or-apply-for-certain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new rule<\/a> that will require certificate holders abroad to nominate a physical <strong>US address for service<\/strong>. We\u2019ve written about it in detail <a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/paging-faa-license-holders-abroad-youll-need-a-us-address-soon\/\">here<\/a>, but there are essentially two looming deadlines to be aware of:<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 2<\/strong> for new applications, and <strong>July 7<\/strong> for anyone who already holds FAA certificates, ratings or authorizations. You\u2019ll need to submit this via the <a href=\"https:\/\/usas.faa.gov\/disclaimer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USAS website<\/a> that is about to go live.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you do \u2013 don\u2019t ignore this. If you don\u2019t nominate a US based address by the applicable date, you won\u2019t be able to exercise the privileges of your document. i.e. say sayonara to your license until you submit the right info.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have an address to nominate in the US, don\u2019t despair. You can use a professional service like <a href=\"https:\/\/faamailagent.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FAA Mail Agent<\/a>. These guys can take care of all it for less than 50 bucks a year. Use the code &#8216;Opsgroup&#8217; and get a discount.<\/p>\n<h4>Passenger ID Requirements<\/h4>\n<p>From May 7, all adult passengers (18+) using commercial air transport within the US (including Part 135 charters) <strong>must show an ID<\/strong> that complies with the new Real ID Act.<\/p>\n<p>The big change is that anyone who wants to use a state-issued ID or drivers licence to meet this requirement must make sure that it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/real-id\/real-id-faqs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">REAL ID compliant<\/a> &#8211; \u00a0look for one of the following symbols:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27316 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ID.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ID.png 540w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ID-300x251.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There is also a list of other IDs (such as US and Foreign Passports) that continue to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsa.gov\/travel\/security-screening\/identification\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">acceptable<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Operators need to take note because if they allow a passenger to board an aircraft without the appropriate ID they are effectively breaching TSA requirements and become liable for hefty penalties<\/p>\n<p>Important note \u2013 private flights operated under <strong>Part 91<\/strong> <strong>are exempt.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>The Notam system went kaput (again).<\/h4>\n<p>The US Notam system was down (again) for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/aerospace-defense\/us-faa-pilot-safety-messaging-system-resumes-operations-after-outage-2025-03-22\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">several hours<\/a> on March 22 due to a hardware failure. It was the second time since early February.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27317\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27317\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27317\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/plug.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/plug.webp 500w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/plug-300x187.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-27317\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cause of the latest outage was a hardware failure.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Once again we <strong>collectively flinched<\/strong> \u2013 a system crash in January 2023 lead to the first US ground stop since 2001, disrupting over 10,000 flights.<\/p>\n<p>Questions are being asked about the reliability of the system, and its lack of redundancy.<\/p>\n<p>The FAA previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/us-faa-adopts-new-safeguards-after-computer-outage-halted-flights-2023-01-30\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> plans to discontinue the legacy US Notam system by mid-2025, with further changes slated for the next five years.<\/p>\n<p>There appears now renewed public and political concern for a <strong>faster resolution.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Mixed Traffic and The Potomac Tragedy<\/h4>\n<p>The FAA has responded to several recommendations made by the NTSB in its<a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DCA25MA108-Prelim.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> preliminary report<\/a> from the mid-air collision over the Potomac River on January 29.<\/p>\n<p>The immediate changes will be felt at <strong>KDCA\/Washington itself.<\/strong> The FAA has permanently closed the low level helicopter route involved in the accident. Non-essential helicopter ops will also be banned, with increased ATC separation applied to those on \u2018urgent missions.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong>ADS-B out is now mandated<\/strong> <strong>for all helicopters<\/strong>, with only very limited exemptions for presidential missions.<\/p>\n<p>Further afield, the FAA is also looking closely into ops at airports in other major cities with high volumes of <strong>mixed traffic<\/strong> (including NY, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and LA) with corrective actions looming for any risks identified.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27331\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27331\" class=\"wp-image-27331\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC_Helicopter_Route_1_and_4-696x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC_Helicopter_Route_1_and_4-696x1024.jpg 696w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC_Helicopter_Route_1_and_4-204x300.jpg 204w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC_Helicopter_Route_1_and_4-768x1130.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC_Helicopter_Route_1_and_4-1044x1536.jpg 1044w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC_Helicopter_Route_1_and_4.jpg 1392w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-27331\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The FAA has announced it will permanently shutter the low level helicopter Route 4.<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>TCAS wasn&#8217;t spoofed in Washington.<\/h4>\n<p>On March 1, several aircraft on approach to <strong>KDCA\/Washington<\/strong> responded to <strong>erroneous TCAS alerts<\/strong>, including RAs. While recent research has indicated <a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/dc-false-alerts-could-tcas-be-vulnerable-to-cyber-attack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">malicious interference<\/a> of TCAS is a credible security concern, a Senate hearing last week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commerce.senate.gov\/2025\/3\/senate-republicans-raise-concerns-over-aviation-safety-breakdowns-that-led-to-fatal-mid-air-collision-at-dca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">revealed<\/a> this was not the case.<\/p>\n<p>The culprit was counter-drone testing by the military nearby which was operating on a similar spectrum to TCAS &#8211; a separate concern previously raised by the FAA.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, there are concerns that these tests were <strong>conducted improperly<\/strong> and caused unnecessary alarm to civil aircraft nearby. At the very least it was an unfortunate coincidence given recent events at the airport.<\/p>\n<h4>Other things you might have missed.<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>TFR Busts &#8211;\u00a0 <\/em>The FAA has reported several instances of civil aircraft busting TFRs in recent weeks. The hot spot appears to be <strong>Palm Beach, FL<\/strong> where the President has a residence at Mar-a-Lago nearby. A reminder that special procedures apply, including TSA Gateway screening when active for anyone headed in or out of<strong> KPBI\/Palm Beach. <\/strong>More on that in our recent article, <a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/palm-beach-tfrs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><em>Laser Strikes \u2013 <\/em>New guidance was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/newsroom\/laser-strikes-aircraft-continue-be-dangerously-high\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published<\/a> by the FAA on March 26. Turns out the number of laser strikes on aircraft continue to be <strong>dangerously high.<\/strong> There\u2019s an online tool to see where the worst spots are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/about\/initiatives\/lasers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>. Remember to report em!<\/li>\n<li><em>Drones \u2013 <\/em>DJI, the main recreational drone producer in the US, has <a href=\"https:\/\/viewpoints.dji.com\/blog\/geo-system-update\">removed<\/a> its built-in geo-fencing feature that physically protects airports from incursions. Instead, an FAA database will simply warn the user when close to a no-fly zone. The issue is that this can now be <strong>maliciously ignored.<\/strong> DJI has said that its geo-fencing is about education, not enforcement. We\u2019re not convinced &#8211; continue to report any illegal sightings to the FAA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Anything we missed?<\/h4>\n<p>Let us know via <a href=\"mailto:news@ops.group\">news@ops.group<\/a>, and we\u2019ll add it to this article. As always the team is also available to help answer any questions, or put you in touch with the person who can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points FAA Enhances Aircraft Privacy: The FAA now allows private aircraft owners to request&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":27335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,2289,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-27311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-faa","9":"tag-kdca","10":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27311"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27334,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311\/revisions\/27334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}