Montana committee weighs bill to limit use of ADS‑B data for billing pilots

House Transportation Committee members heard more than two hours of testimony on House Bill 571, legislation that would bar the use of automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS‑B) transmissions to calculate or collect landing or other operating fees from most general‑aviation aircraft in Montana.

Proponents said ADS‑B, a GPS‑based system installed on many aircraft to improve safety and traffic awareness, is being monetized by private companies and used to send landing invoices to pilots who did not expect them. Tim Robertson, president of the Montana Pilots Association, told the committee, "ADSB . . . was sold to the world purely as a safety technology, [and] is being used to essentially collect tolls in the form of landing fees from pilots and aircraft owners." Jack Galt, a Montana pilot,…