b'GENERAL AVIATIONISM | TXK33operating in the NAS. Commenters also expressed concern over FAA using the collected data to enforce actions or levy fees. FAAs response was that user fees were not a part of this rule and would have to be addressed in a different one. The Jan. 1, 2020, deadline for equipping aircraft with Mode C transponders that include ADS-B Out (to send data about aircraft position) was not popular with many aircraft owners because they had to spend several thousand dollars to comply with the new rule. Fast forward 10 years since the official implementation and some things have changed. No right to privacy in the NAS was amended in a 2019 rule that removed transmission requirements for federal, state and local government entities involved in sensitive operations for matters of national defense, homeland security, intelligence and law enforcement. This year, FAA also enabled a privacy program through the FAACivil Aviation Registry Electronic Servicesonline portal that allows private aircraft owners to keep some registration information (such as their name and address) private. While not cited as the reason for wanting identifying information to be redacted, this added layer of anonymity allowed aircraft owners to avoid being billed for aircraft landing fees. Infrastructure CostsChris Oswald, senior vice president of Safety and Regulatory Affairs for Airports Council InternationalNorth America (ACI-NA) emphasizes that landing fees and other charges for using airfields are long-standing, well-established, appropriate, legal and fair. He explains that airports have always relied on aeronautical revenue to maintain, rehabilitate and improve runways, taxiways, aprons and other critical airfield infrastructure. In the U.S. and worldwide, these fees are almost immediately put back into the airport to provide infrastructure necessary for safe operations, which is the first priority of airport operators, Oswald says. There is no free infrastructure.Airport Funding 101Enterprise and OtherwiseKissimmee Gateway Airport (ISM), a city-owned airfield in Central Florida with about 135,000 annual operations, came under fire earlier this year from the general aviation community after announcing it would begin charging transient aircraft landing feesa first since opening in 1940. Based operators, which account for about half of ISMs traffic, are not charged. Director of Aviation Shaun Germolus, A.A.E, emphasizes that proceeds from the landing fee ($3 per 1,000 lbs. of landing weight) will How Did We Get Here? be used as cost recovery efforts to shore ADS-B has been part of FAAs NextGen modernizationup the airports general reserves. Based on planssince the early 1990s. Integration began in earnest2023 traffic, the new user fee could generate when it awarded ITT Corporation a multimillion-dollar contractbetween $400,000 and $500,000 per year. in 2007 to develop and implement the ADS-B system, whichSHAUN GERMOLUSultimately provided more accurate tracking than existing radar.This is an important source of revenue because ISM operates as an enterprise fund and does not receive In 2010, a rule for implementing ADS-B in the Nationalmoney from the city of Kissimmee or Osceola County. The airports Airspace System (NAS) was finalized despite someannual budget is approximately $2 million, including expenses for objections to broadcasting tail numbers beyond what waspersonnel, equipment, maintenance, utilities and insurance. The necessary for Air Traffic Control. FAA responded withinoperating budget is also used for local matches required by federal the rule by stating . . . there is no right to privacy whenand state grants for capital improvements.AirportImprovement.comJuly | August 2025'