Pilot's Bill of Rights

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If you are seeking FAA contractor air traffic data related to an FAA investigation of your use of -- or qualifications for holding -- an FAA airman certificate, please read the following:

Under the Pilot's Bill of Rights (PBR), Public Law 112-153, an individual who is the subject of an investigation relating to the approval, denial, suspension, modification or revocation of an airman certificate under chapter 447, of title 49, of the United States Code is entitled to obtain government contractor air traffic data that would facilitate that individual's ability to productively participate in a proceeding relating to that investigation. Under the PBR, the government contractor would be a person or entity that provides operational service to the FAA, including control towers and flight service stations.

The PBR specifies that the individual (i.e., the certificated airman who is the subject of an FAA investigation) seeking such government contractor data must send his or her request to the FAA. The request must describe the facility at which such contractor air traffic data are located and the request must identify the date on which such data were generated.

Air traffic data are only retained for brief periods. Depending on the type of data, they will normally be stored from 5 to 45 days and then they are destroyed or discarded in the normal course of business. For this reason, it is important that the individual submit his or her request for government contractor data expeditiously to the FAA email address provided below. It is also important that the individual provide as much information as possible so that the data can be quickly located, retrieved, stored and transmitted to the FAA.

To ensure that relevant air traffic data you are seeking from a government contractor are obtained, you should provide the following information:

1. Your name and your airman certificate number;
2. other relevant information (aircraft heading, altitude, call sign, transponder code, etc.) that will help the contractor locate relevant data;
3. the name/location of the contractor facility that you believe has air traffic data;
4. the date and local time of day when such data relevant to the your flight operation were generated;
5. the name of the FAA inspector, investigator or other FAA official (e.g., an air traffic controller who advises you about a possible pilot deviation) who notified you that you are under investigation;
6. the airman's phone number or email

The individual should provide that information to the FAA by email to the following address:
AirmenDataRequest@faa.gov.

Privacy Act Notice

AUTHORITY: Public Law 112-153 "The Pilot's Bill of Rights"; 49 USC Chapter 447; and
5 U.S.C. Section 552a.

PRINCIPAL PURPOSE(S): Some of the information specified in items "a" and "f" above are covered by the Privacy Act. We need your name and airman certificate number in order for us to call up your official address of record on file at the FAA Airmen Certification Branch. This is the only address where we will send you either the requested data, or a notification that the requested data are available for your review. Your contact information (phone number or email address) is requested in the event the FAA needs additional information to process your request. You are not required to provide this information. Choosing not to provide contact information may result in a delay in obtaining data or possibly the destruction of requested data during the normal course of business. Efforts by the FAA or the contractor to expeditiously locate the data you are seeking -- before it is destroyed in the normal course of business -- may be futile without your contact information in item "f".

ROUTINE USES: (1) For the FAA to assist an airman, under investigation, to obtain FAA contractor air traffic data -- by identifying where such data are located and by limiting the location where we will send such data to the airman's official address of record on file at the Airman Registry based on the airman's name and airman certificate number. (2) To document the individual's written request for such government contractor air traffic data, including the nature and scope of the data request.

DISCLOSURE: Voluntary. If you decide to provide the information specified in items "a" and "f" above to the FAA email address noted above, it will be considered a voluntary submission of such information. A failure to provide your name and airman certificate number will mean that the FAA will not ask the contractor to seek, retrieve, store and transmit the requested data because the FAA will not have the name and an official address of record where such data can be mailed or where the FAA can mail a notification that such data are available to be reviewed at the FAA. A failure to provide the information specified in item "f" means that the FAA does not have quick method of contacting the requester to seek clarifying information or additional information. This may result in the inability of the FAA or the contractor to locate the data you are seeking before it is disposed of or destroyed.