Incognito Mode
Summary
9/22/2025. Read time: 7 min.
In the ADS-B era, any ADS-B equipped aircraft is trackable. There are several steps you can take to increase your privacy via FAA programs: CARES, LADD, and PIA. None of the programs offers an entirely anonymous solution. To travel compeley incogneto, don't own an ADS-B transponder.
Details
You can fly, but you cannot hide. And it's already been this way for a decade. While aviation offers a freedom of travel like nothing else, technological advancements have encroached upon your ability to travel discreetly. Call it an unintended consequence of progress, but private aviation is no longer as private as it once was.
Surveillance
The first real surveillance capability, primary radar, was effectively used during World War II. The Brits scanned the sky for incoming air attacks and were able to intercept raids, to the surprise of their enemies. Primary radar displays a blip on the radar screen for airborne targets- no transponder required.
The next evolution, Secondary radar, began picking up aircraft transponder data (if equipped). At first, it was just a tailnumber (Mode A). It expanded to include altitude (Mode C), and now newer equipment can transmit more flight information (Mode S). Enhanced Mode S really expanded the data received by ATC: Altitude, datalink info, flight status, aircraft ID, resolution advisories, altitude bug selection, ground speed, true air speed, indicated airspeed, Mach, roll rate, magnetic heading, and a few others.
ADS-B
Then, there came Mode S Extended Squitter. This is your ADS-B 1090 ES MHz package. It takes the Enhanced Mode S data and broadcasts it publicly for anyone to receive. Yep, if you squitter, you twitter all your information to the world.
ADS-B is not new anymore. Since 2020, it has been required in the US for flights above 10,000 feet, Class B, and Class C airspace, essentially overlaying the previous requirement for a Mode C transponder. The FAA's 700 ADS-B ground stations significantly improved radar coverage at a fraction of the cost of implementing new radar stations.
But back to those unintended consequences. The FAA receives your ADS-B data, but so does anyone else with a $50 ADS-B receiver. Hobbyist websites, such as ADS-B Exchange, have compiled feeds from over 14,000 private ground receivers worldwide to provide real-time tracking of anyone who has an ADS-B transponder. The monitoring of Elon Musk's jet (and other high-profile names) is based on the ADS-B data received via these hobbyist websites.
To top it off, Aireon has launched a network of satellite-based ADS-B receivers—100% worldwide coverage, at any flyable altitude. I suppose, with the exception of Dario Costa's Red Bull flight through a mountain pass tunnel.
Before you think it, you can't turn off your ADS-B. Some new aircraft don't even give you the capability to turn it off. CFR 91.225 lays out the regulations for ADS-B requirements, and paragraph (f) explicitly states, "Each person operating an aircraft equipped with ADS-B Out must operate this equipment in the transmit mode at all times." Minus a few exceptions for military and law enforcement operations, and for safety of flight situations such as formations.
There is nowhere to hide; however, there are different measures you can take to increase the privacy of your flight operation.
Level 1 - Cookies
As of March 2025, the FAA released the capability to allow some aircraft owners to remove their name and address information from public records (aircraft brokers despair). If you own the aircraft as an individual, company, or LLC, you can submit an electronic request to hide the aircraft registration records from the public via the Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services (CARES) portal. In the future, partnerships, non-citizen trusts, and some other company types will have the capability as well.
Register on the CARES website and submit a PDF document containing the following:
State that you voluntarily request the removal of your name and address from public dissemination
Include the registered owner information
Aircraft N-number and
Serial number
While this does nothing to stop live aircraft tracking, it adds a layer of anonymity between aircraft ownership and the aircraft operation.
Level 2 - Incogneto Mode
Now we are going to start blocking. The FAA has another program, Limited Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD). LADD replaced the older Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program. Owners can submit their request to implement or remove their desired level of blocking via email (ladd@faa.gov) or via the LADD online form. Include the following:
Aircraft registered owner
Aircraft registration number or call sign
Email address
Telephone number
ICAO Address (Mode S Code) - This is the six-digit HEX code that you can look up on the aircraft registry or via an ADS-B Performance Report.
Aircraft Make and Model
Desired level of limiting data (Subscriber, FAA Source, or Unblocking)
Certification that the requester is the owner or operator of the specified aircraft, or is a legally authorized representative of the aircraft owner or operator.
After submitting the request, it will be a few weeks before it takes effect. The FAA updates its blocked list only at the beginning of each month. They recommend getting your request in before the 15th of the month to be included in the next update.
Subscriber-level blocking blocks tracking from the public, but vendors, such as FlightAware, still receive live data from the FAA. You can then create an account with the vendor, and once you verify ownership of the aircraft, you can track your own aircraft through the vendor, while the public is excluded. This measure, combined with aircraft registration blocking (Level 1), provides a suitable level of entry for maintaining some privacy.
FAA source-level blocking is more restrictive. The FAA keeps the received data in-house, and no 3rd party vendor tracking is available. Source-level blocking would further protect you in the event of a data breach at a third-party vendor; however, this option would also limit your ability to perform any tracking in-house.
From a live tracking standpoint, both blocking options only address FAA data, not ADS-B data received on the 14,000+ private receivers. ADS-B Exchange even has a filter that allows you to view only aircraft participating in the LADD program - more on this later.
Level 3 - VPN
Arising from the desire of operators to limit ADS-B tracking, the FAA implemented yet another program: the Privacy International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Address (PIA) program. PIA is an excellent acronym for it.
The gist is that the FAA assigns a new six-digit HEX number for your aircraft transponder, one not publicly associated with your tail number, and you use a call sign for radio transmissions to avoid disclosing your tail number. As you fly and transmit, only the FAA knows who the aircraft really is - in theory. The PIA process involves several steps.
Obtain a Public ADS-B Performance Report (PAPR).
Apply to the PIA program.
Wait 10 days to receive a PIA flight ID (HEX code) assignment.
Obtain a third-party call sign (from FlightPlan, ForeFlight, FlightAware, or ARINCDirect) and confirm it by emailing the PIA office.adsbprivacyicao@faa.gov.
Restrap your transponder with the PIA HEX code.
Submit another PAPR report showing the new PIA HEX code works within 30 days of receiving your new HEX code.
Complete the PIA verification checklist.
Sounds great, however, all it takes is one plane spotter with a Live ATC feed to see you takeoff or land, and now the new HEX code and call sign are associated with your tailnumber — time to go through the PIA process again and apply for a new HEX code.
Now would be a good time to mention an additional limitation of the system. It only works in FAA-controlled airspace - even if the origin and destination are domestic, your flight can't go through another controlling agency (like a Canadian overflight, for instance). Depending on your route of flight, you must either file the PIA call sign or the N-number registration.
The worst part is that instead of providing more anonymity, it actually makes you more of a target. ADS-B Exchange also has a filter for PIA aircraft. As of this writing, out of the thousands of airplanes, you can narrow them down to a handful of airborne PIA aircraft. Instead of being more private, participating in the PIA program helps pick your aircraft out of the haystack!
The worst part is that instead of providing more anonymity, it actually makes you more of a target. ADS-B Exchange also has a filter for PIA aircraft. As of this writing, out of the thousands of airplanes, you can narrow them down to a handful of airborne PIA aircraft. Instead of being more private, participating in the PIA program helps pick your aircraft out of the haystack!
There really isn't a silver bullet to prevent tracking of your aircraft. After all, you are mandated to broadcast a ton of information publicly. There is, however, a remaining option...
Level 4 - Darkweb
Privacy is your highest concern. Cost and efficiency aside, you refuse to let it be known when and where you are going. The nuclear option: don't have an ADS-B transponder. There are two ways to do this.
Get a Pilatus Porter/ Cessna Caravan/ Turbine Sherpa without ADS-B and only fly in areas where ADS-B is not mandated. No international flights, forget about landing in a big city, you don't want to fly above 10,000 ft anyway.
Don't operate an aircraft. Outsource and charter one. Pull up rampside in a blacked-out SUV, scramble up the steps without being spotted, and fly truly anonymous in the 91k or 135 world (charter brokers rejoice).
Unfortunately, there are no perfect solutions, only tradeoffs. Practically, private operators can easily implement Levels 1 and 2, but they don't address ADS-B data. Level 3 is a much higher hurdle, and the increased activity doesn't necessarily translate into results. If privacy outweighs the benefits of operating your own flight department, you can progress (or digress?) to Level 4: fractional and charter options. And as fun as it would be to bomb around in a Porter, you would be giving up a lot of utility.
ADS-B has created a thorny privacy issue. The best defense for most may just be the Spotlight effect: no one thinks about you as much as you think about you. Unless you are scrutinized as one of the wealthiest, most famous, or most notorious people in the world (prepare your ego), almost everyone is too busy with their own lives to bother about your travel.
Aviate
Consider implementing your desired level of privacy.
