Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that bars airports in the state from using ADS-B data to calculate or collect fees from owners and operators of light general aviation aircraft.
State Senate Bill 422, approved by the governor on April 23, 2026, creates a new Florida statute restricting how airports can use information broadcast or collected by automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast systems. The law takes effect on July 1, 2026.
The measure applies to aircraft with a gross weight of 12,499 pounds or less operating under Part 91. It prohibits airports from using ADS-B information to calculate, generate or collect fees tied to landings, including touch-and-go operations, or fees based on an aircraft entering a specified radius of airport airspace.
The bill does not ban airport fees outright. Instead, it targets the use of ADS-B data as the billing mechanism.
ADS-B became a major part of the US air traffic surveillance system after the FAA’s 2020 equipage mandate. The system broadcasts aircraft position, altitude, groundspeed and other data to ground stations and other aircraft, giving controllers and pilots more accurate traffic information than older radar-based systems.
General aviation advocates have argued that airports and third-party vendors should not turn that safety data into an automated billing tool. The issue has drawn more attention as some airports have explored or adopted systems that use aircraft tracking data to assess landing fees, raising concerns among aircraft owners, flight schools and pilot groups.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) supported the Florida legislation and has backed similar efforts at the federal level. AOPA has argued that using ADS-B for billing undermines the purpose of a system designed to improve traffic awareness and airspace safety.
The Florida measure follows similar action in Montana, which AOPA said became the first state to ban the collection of ADS-B-based fees from most general aviation pilots in 2025. AOPA has also pointed to related legislation in Congress, including the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act, which would place federal limits on the use of ADS-B data.
