... and one is compelled to ask, What’s the point? The article was a front-page feature in Saturday’s paper under the headline, “For the Highest Fliers, New Scrutiny”, and was addressing a proposal by FAA to open up tracking of business aircraft movements which are currently protected under the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program.
At least, it was supposed to be addressing BARR. By way of a Freedom of Information Act request, the Journal acquired and has made available records of every private aircraft movement from 2007 to 2010, according to the newspaper. Along the way the article veers into what NBAA terms a voyeuristic journey into the various destinations of celebrities who utilize corporate airplanes. I kept getting the feeling I was reading a print version of ‘Entertainment Tonight’.
Ed Bolen, president of the National Business Aviation Association, is only briefly quoted in the Journal piece. Following its publication, he responded with a letter to the paper defending the industry’s support of BARR and noted FAA’s plan “would enable anyone – terrorist, criminal, cyber-stalker, business competitor, paparazzi – with a simple Internet connection to track the movements of thousands of aircraft and, for all practical purposes, their occupants,” according to the NBAA website.
In the letter Bolen notes, “The government’s argument that publishing an airplane tail number doesn’t necessarily reveal the identity of a traveler is sophistry; with the tail number, anyone with a little initiative can quickly determine the likely travelers aboard – a reality confirmed by your article.”
And he adds, “But what is most startling about the proposed rollback of these privacy rights is that no one has even identified the interest – other than prurient voyeurism – that the invasion of privacy advances. What’s next? Under the DOT’s logic, the government could next release the records on drivers’ E-Z pass use on highways, passenger manifests for airline flights, individuals’ cell-phone calling traffic, and consumers’ credit card use.”
Read the Journal article and you get the sense that it was only vaguely about the BARR program. It really seems more intended to take a swipe at business aviation, a major U.S. exporter that has taken more than its fair share of hits and negative press in recent years.
Last month, the aircraft manufacturers in Wichita were able to get DOT Secretary LaHood to visit their facilities and get a first-hand view of the role and impact of the business aviation sector. Might be time to send a similar invitation to the reporters at The Wall Street Journal.
(To see Bolen’s letter in full, visit http://www.nbaa.org/news/letters/20110523-wall-street-journal.php.)
Thanks for reading. jfi