A group of Florida pilots has organized a petition campaign to have the FAA stop ADS-B data from being used to bill pilots for landing fees. It’s the latest wrinkle in a growing movement to stop the controversial practice. The pilots took action after the airport authority at Kissimmee, Florida, signed a deal with Vector Airport Systems to have it send bills to the registered owners of aircraft landing at the field. One of the organizers of the petition, Don Frano, said the third-party billing is foremost a safety issue. “After spending seven days at Sun N Fun campaigning for awareness and support on the petition I was surprised how many pilots were not aware of this growing trend and more shockingly how many’s knee jerk response has been to turn off their ADS-B out,” Frano told AVweb. “If we see follow through on that the skies will be less safe for all of us.”
Like most of the other groups and individuals opposing the billing action, the petitioners pointed out that the costly mandatory equipage came with a pledge from the FAA to never use the technology for anything but traffic separation. “This [third-party billing] exceeds the intended scope of ADS-B and undermines trust in the system.” Frano said the petition was intended to piggyback on an AOPA effort to get the FAA to stop ADS-B billing. As of Monday night, the petition had attracted more than 2200 signatures.
