Is a flight plan public record?

Flight plans are among the lesser-known public records.



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Flight plans are among the lesser-known public records. Often confused with flight manifests, these seemingly random assortments of numbers and letters contain extensive information that could be useful in litigation or in verifying an individual's claimed whereabouts.

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Aside from military and government sensitive flights, flight information collected by the FAA is considered public information because taxpayers pay for air traffic controllers, runways, towers, and other resources utilized by both commercial and private pilots.

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CBP and DHS officials responsible for identifying illicit travel and preventing and detecting terrorism and certain transnational crimes will have access to PNR data derived from flights to, from, or through the United States.

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Aircraft registration is public information in the USA, making it easy to find a locate and track a US-registered plane by it's tail number, and find out who owns it.

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The CVR records the flight crew's voices, as well as other sounds inside the cockpit. The recorder's cockpit area microphone is usually located on the overhead instrument panel between the two pilots.

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You can search the FAA registry database by 14 separate fields, including:
  1. The aircraft's N-number—its FAA registration ID.
  2. The aircraft's serial number.
  3. The engine's make and model.
  4. The aircraft's make and model.
  5. State and county, which provides a comprehensive listing of all aircraft registered to owners in each county.


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According to FlightAware, a flight-tracking software company, the short answer is: a lot. Since planes are constantly landing and taking off, the exact number fluctuates but in 2017, FlightAware calculated there were, on average, 9,729 commercial aeroplanes in the sky at any time.

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Tracking the private jet in Flight Aware app Enter an aircraft's tail number and click “Track Flight.” You can now track the aircraft on the map, with flight data on the right.

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VFR flight tracking is supported but is subject to the availability of a position source such as radar or ADS-B data. Origin, destination, departure, arrival, and flight plan data may not be available.

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DVFR (Defense VFR) In the increased environment of national security that exists today, flight plans are required before penetrating or flying in Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ). Expanded information can be found in FAR Part 99, Security Control of Air Traffic.

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