There seems to be a bad taste in the public’s mouth anytime someone decides to keep something secret or private. While not condoning the behavior of Tiger Woods or the rest of his ilk (I’m talking about cheaters, not professional golfers here), I’m one of those people that believe that somethings should still be kept private. Particularly when it comes to safety and security.
Even when we were writing the book on aviation security, we knew there were things that were okay to talk about publicly, but there were also things not to include. That’s the case with the recent debate about whether corporate aircraft operators have the right to keep their trips from becoming public. Click here for the USAToday article.
In an editorial response to the article, one citizen wrote in support of making all flight plans public. Others wrote in support of privacy comparing the airways to public roads and noting that we’re not forced to tell people where we’re driving, or when or for what purpose and we shouldn’t be forced to do the same thing when we fly. I agree.
Let’s address the people who think that everything should be public. To the citizen (we’ll call you Sparky, to sort of protect your own name) who talked about how “transparency,” in the post 9/11 world, I say, put your money where your mouth is. Actually, put your personal security where your mouth is. Let’s develop a website that you will be required to update every time you leave your house. You are required to enter the time of departure, where you are going, the time of expected arrival and the duration of your time away from your house. We will name the website, “pleasecomeburlgarizemyhouse.com.”
Sound good Sparky? How’s that transparency thing working out for you now?
The fact is, it’s okay to have some secrets in this world and to keep some things private. Just because someone flies in a private aircraft, doesn’t mean they give up their Constitutional rights, simply because technology is able to track their every movement.
What is the real issue here? An irrational fear that a private aircraft will fall out of the sky on their head if they aren’t able to track it somewhere on the Internet? Hardly. This is likely more about people who don’t have private aircraft or use them, jealous of those who do. Keep in mind, despite the reporting of corporate greed and misdeeds, there are plenty of corporations out there, from small businesses to large multi-national companies, who use private aircraft to save time and money, and likely, are able to employ many more “Sparky’s” of the world, because they are not waiting at a commercial service airport for hours.
I agree with Mr. Price. Privacy is very important. It is not keeping things a “secret” more so just keeping it private. If all flights have to be made public then people will be able to track military flights including the flights of “Air Force One”. How well will that go to fight terrorist and criminals alike. Celebrities will also have tons of problems with paparazzi and fans following them everywhere. So yes, flights can be filed as private.
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I believe that security is not entirely a bad thing as well. Though some things should not have to be put out there publicly but some things should. It really shouldn’t matter that someone owns a private aircraft and decides to go flying that we shouldn’t have to know the complete details to it. If all flights are made public than some kind of terrorist would be able to know who is on the plane and could target taking that specific plane down if they wanted to. Or wait for them to land and get them.
My stance is that it shouldn’t have to be public knowledge every time an aircraft is accessed. Jeff makes a good point about your house being burglarized because criminals would know when you were gone. Even though we are talking airplanes, I don’t think it is very practical information. Corporations have a budget for using their own aircraft, and can utilize them anytime they want to save time and money traveling. I’m sure you could argue in some cases that an aircraft may have been used for a “personal” trip, but that would be a rare occurrence. Some businesses might also use the information about where their competitors are traveling to gain a strong arm on business situations.
When it comes to certain things like national security I think we need to keep those things as secret as possible. Once the enemy finds out how we do things then we are in trouble we need to make sure that we always stay a step head of the people that want to do harm to this country. We our a country of winners and we need to make sure it stays that way
I have to agree with the man on his argument on small businesses to large multi national companies who use private aircraft to save time and money, and more then likely employing people who are worth a lot more then what commercial service airports have to offer to them. Not to mention the time they save not waiting at those airports. He explains that there are people out there who feel the need to keep the elite from living a private life simply because they are jealous of what they dont have. Just because are tax money helps pay for the controllers salaries, radars and runways, does not give us the right to put our noses in somebody elses business. He made a really good example of how if every time we leave our house we are required to update this one particular website, with the time we leave, where were going, and when we will be back, and we will call it burglarizemyhome.com It makes complete sense and im gonna have to agree with him strongly
With the pleasecomeburglarizemyhouse.com statement it is almost hard to argue with this privacy issue. Nobody in the US, or world for that matter, would want to have to update their status on a site such as that. As previously stated, people driving dont have to make any special reports about where they are going and why. So why should private aircraft have to when there are already programs and technology that allows us great deals of access to their private information. I don’t believe the majority of the US is concerned with where, why, and when private aircraft are flying. Do private aircraft and pilots need any more hassels to deal with when they already have so many procedures to follow?