FAA Offers Pilots Secret ICAO Addresses for Privacy Protection
Published Date: 9/3/2026
Notice
Summary
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for an information collection renewal. The collection involves an aircraft operator's request for a privacy ICAO address through a web-based application process. The information to be collected is necessary to qualify for the authorized use of the privacy ICAO address services and for monitoring to support continued airworthiness and enforcement activities.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
Who Can Get a Privacy ICAO Address
You can apply to get a temporary privacy ICAO (24-bit) aircraft address to mask your aircraft’s identity, but only U.S.-registered aircraft are eligible and participation is voluntary. No unique privacy ICAO address will be assigned to more than one U.S.-registered aircraft at a given time, and you cannot use a privacy ICAO address for a U.S.-registered aircraft unless you are authorized to use a third-party flight identification for that aircraft.
Application Time and Change Limits
Applying is done through a web-based process and FAA estimates about 15 minutes per application. FAA estimates up to 15,000 respondents and a total annual burden of 12,563 hours. An operator may change a privacy ICAO aircraft address no more often than once every 20 days, except that an operator can change it sooner if real-world security concerns arise.
Notification, Verification, and FAA Monitoring
If approved, the operator must notify FAA when their avionics have been loaded with the assigned temporary ICAO address and verify that the ADS-B equipment is broadcasting the assigned privacy address. FAA will download the submitted information into its ADS-B Performance Monitor for monitoring and enforcement.
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