Claire McCaskill hiding travel on private plane from public

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D--Mo.) took action earlier this year to make her family's private plane un-trackable by the public, according to documents obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration.

McCaskill garnered much criticism ahead of her last reelection campaign over her use of a private jet at taxpayer expense that she demanded her husband "sell the damn plane." But they bought a new, more expensive plane shortly after she won that election. Now, as she gears up for her next election fight, they have taken action to limit scrutiny of the plane's use.

The company hired by McCaskill to operate the plane, a 2009 Pilatus PC-12/47E, wrote to the FAA earlier this year in April to ask that tracking information on the plane be blocked from the public, according to email records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Prior to 2013, private aircraft owners or operators had to present a "certified security concern" to the FAA if they wanted to block their aircraft data from public display on websites such as FlightAware.com, where McCaskill's plane could be tracked as recently as this year. However, changes made during the Obama administration removed this requirement and "make the aircraft blocking process as simple as possible."

Donor records from McCaskill's campaign previously revealed it brought in a $1,000 contribution from a top Aero Charter executive as the campaign was directing payments to the company for operation of the plane.

Representatives for McCaskill did not respond to multiple inquiries into the reason for the request and whether it had to do with her upcoming election.

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