Greetings,
If you have been keeping up with the aviation press over the last few months, you’ll know that it’s been a busy summer with regard to aviation-related legislation, proposed rulemaking by the FAA/DOT and proposed changes to Special Use Airspace (SUA) and Military Operating Areas (MOAs) in Arizona. Here’s a high-level summary:
- ·Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act – Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) and Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo) have introduced Bills S.2175 and H4146, titled the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act which is intended to address growing concerns about the misuse of FAA mandated ADS-B technology. This legislation, introduced in June 2025, would:
* Prohibit the use of ADS-B to identify any aircraft for the purpose of collecting fees from pilots or aircraft owners.
* Limit the use of ADS-B to its intended purposes of improving air traffic safety and efficiency.
* Expand to all federal, state and local entities, a provision in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 preventing investigations from being initiated based solely on ADS-B data.
* Require public-use airport owner/operators to disclose the impact of any new fees on general aviation and related businesses and require collected revenue to be used for airport airside safety improvements.
APA and the Arizona Aviation Safety Advisory Group (ASAG) have authored a joint letter urging the Arizona legislature and Congressional representatives to support this national level legislation or enact similar legislation at the state level. We will keep you updated on the feedback from our legislators.
- ·FAA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) – Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Beyond Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operations – On August 5, 2025, the FAA released proposed rules to allow UAS weighing up to 1,320 lbs to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the operator. The current Part 107 UAS rules do not allow BVLOS without a waiver. This is a complex set of rulemaking which covers 647 pages in the NPRM. Here are a few highlights:
* Enables a wide range of VLOS operations including package delivery, aerial survey/inspection, agriculture, public safety and flight testing.
* Operations will be restricted to altitudes at or below 400 feet (consistent with current Part 107 UAS rules)
* Airman certificates will not be required for Part 108 operations as the UAS systems covered by this NPRM will be autonomous with limited operator interface. This is different than Part 107
which requires the UAS operator to have an airman certificate.
* BVLOS UAS will be required to have Detect and Avoid (DAA) capability that will enable them to automatically detect and avoid other “cooperating aircraft” which includes other UAS and manned aircraft reporting their position via ADS-B.
However, the proposed rule grants the BVLOS UAS the right of way over FAR Part 91 aircraft that are not equipped with ADS-B out. This means that if you are operating a balloon, glider, ultralight or GA aircraft without ADS-B capability in the vicinity of a BVLOS operating area you are required to see and avoid UAS. As you know this would be difficult if not impossible. The FAA does plan to define new requirements for portable low-cost electronic conspicuity (EC) device that can be used by manned aircraft to retain the right- of-way over a Part 108 UAS. However, until the EC or portable transponder technology is approved by the FAA this provision of the rulemaking presents an unacceptable risk to manned aircraft.
APA will be reviewing the full NPRM and provide comments by the 6 October 2025 deadline. We encourage you to make individual comments as well to ensure thorough feedback from GA community. Comments can be submitted via Regulations.gov using docket number FAA-2025-1908.
- ·Arizona SUA/MOA Changes – as we reported last September, the USAF has proposed to change the majority of the MOA’s in Arizona to expand footprints, lower operating altitudes allow use of flares and supersonic flight down to 5,000 AGL in the Tombstone, Outlaw, Jackal, Morenci and Reserve MOA’s.
APA, ASAG and a number of other general aviation organizations submitted comments and voiced their concerns over the flight safety impacts of these changes. You can find the APA comment letter here: https://azpilots.org/images/documents/2025-09-arizona-sua-moa-changes/president_report_2025_usaf_deis_apa_comments.pdf
The FAA is conducting a separate study of the USAF proposal and has requested that the aviation community submit comments by 19 September 2025. You can find the FAA request for public comment letter here: https://azpilots.org/images/documents/2025-09-arizona-sua-moa-changes/president_report_2025_official_rsop_az_circulation_notice.pdf
The US Marine Corps has also recently requested comments on proposed changes to SUA adjacent to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, CA. This proposal encompasses SUA to the East of Twentynine Palms and establish new permanent Restricted Areas and MOAs and establish a new MOA. Although a majority of this airspace is located in California, the existing Turtle MOA extends into Arizona and encompasses Lake Havasu City (KHII). Comments are due by 15 September 2025. You can find the USMC request for public comment letter here: https://azpilots.org/images/documents/2025-09-arizona-sua-moa-changes/president_report_2025_usmc_sua_letter_8-27-25.pdf
APA will be submitting feedback on both the FAA and USMC request for comments by the required due dates. As with the FAA Part 108 NPRM, we encourage you to make individual comments as well to ensure thorough feedback from GA community.
In closing, I’d like to remind everyone that applications for 2025 APA Scholarship program are due October 31, 2024. If you or someone you know is interested in applying you can go to the application link on our website. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the Scholarship team if you have any questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Fly Safe,
Chris