I think the point is that the info being sent out is a bit too much info. Aircraft type, and position/altitude is all that needs to be sent. No more, no less. All the other info is a bit much, and not needed, except in the case of administrative action due to an airspace incursion. (class B without clearance, or prohibited airspace) Making their job easier to prove that you were in fact 25 feet into class B without clearance for not less than 30 seconds. Even SAR only really needs your location, not who you are/what you are.Yeah, sending out that data so people can know and avoid is a horrible thing.Good grief!
The N-number priority is actually putting up needless information as priority for the public to see. If I choose to use CTAF (And I will, whether I'm in a Mooney or a Cessna 140, or a Cardinal), of course I'm going to use my registration, and I don't care if other pilots know who I am. Same if I choose to use tower services or ATC flight following / IFR. Take the airspace near DFW for instance. I could be with GPM, RBD, or GKY tower, APCH CTRL SE or SW, or DFW in a few spots. Doesn't matter if they know your N-number, they WILL not be able to reach you if you are on someone else's frequency. If they assign your ADS-B HEX / transponder code to the N-number you provide, the government of course will know it's you, but I don't think that's what we are concerned about. The N-number display is actually worse than useless to me. What would be useful is aircraft TYPE clearly showing on the ADSB hex. If I happened to see 7353K for instance on my scope, that wouldn't really do anything for me, but if I saw it was a PA20 I would expect it to be a relatively slow high-wing and would know what to expect. OTOH, some fool with an agenda could do someone mischief by knowing that that aircraft is out of town or tracking their movements.
I guess that’s no different than a license plate, but my unreasonable, unhappy neighbor in the city being able to track every noise complaint movement and then target my personal house or business when I’m gone is a breach of the right of a citizen to be secure in their houses and papers. I want the FAA to give me a new unpublished hex code that only broadcasts my aircraft type, but which a controller can see tied to an internal database. And I want that hex code changed at every aircraft re-registration so if somebody’s figured it out, they have to start over every so often.
But that does 0 good if it's still publically available, tied to my address, and I have to spend the money on a new paint job. I should periodically get a new hex with the SAME registration. The government will still be able to track, but I'm secure from other entities and the government isn't feeding the info to people that don't have a reason to know.
I don’t care if the FAA knows my hex code. If the hex code goes to the FAA database, tells them who I am and it saves ATC a stepI guess that’s no different than a license plate, but my unreasonable, unhappy neighbor in the city being able to track every noise complaint movement and then target my personal house or business when I’m gone is a breach of the right of a citizen to be secure in their houses and papers. I want the FAA to give me a new unpublished hex code that only broadcasts my aircraft type, but which a controller can see tied to an internal database. And I want that hex code changed at every aircraft re-registration so if somebody’s figured it out, they have to start over every so often.
You, too, Larry...
Based on your N number, I can find your name and address. From that, there are any number of websites that provide everything for $9.99. But then, Most of my info is already available because the OPM has been hacked at least twice, that it admits to,
That’s a lot of effort and will only be worth it to a few.