How a Jet Linked to Vivek Ramaswamy Gave Away Its New Privacy Identity

The privacy system was supposed to make N989DM harder to track. On Aug. 12, as the Bombardier Global 5000 prepared to leave Knoxville, its pilot said it was the aircraft’s first day using the FAA’s Privacy ICAO Address program. In the same radio exchange, the crew twice gave the jet’s real registration and identified its new private hex, A092A4, and flight ID, XAA2473—spoken by controllers as Rockfish 2473. That conversation tied the temporary privacy identity directly to N989DM.

JetSweep flight 357971 shows the jet leaving Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport near Panama City on Aug. 10 and reaching Knoxville that afternoon. It stayed for nearly two days before departing for its usual operating base in Columbus. The records do not establish who was aboard or why the jet stopped in either city.

N989DM is the registration painted on the jet—its license plate. ADCCEA is the permanent digital address, or hex, associated with that registration. The FAA privacy program replaces that public hex with a temporary one so the aircraft’s broadcast is harder to match to the jet. A flight ID is the name the aircraft uses in the system; on this flight it was XAA2473, or Rockfish 2473. The controller also assigned squawk 5710, a disposable code for that flight only.

The public broadcast appears to show a first-day setup mistake. It retained ADCCEA as the hex and transmitted A092A4 in the field where XAA2473 should have appeared. A correctly configured privacy flight would broadcast A092A4 as the hex and XAA2473 as the flight ID. That is JetSweep’s reading of the radio exchange and public data, not an FAA violation finding.

The records connecting the jet to Ramaswamy begin with his campaign’s earlier aircraft. Signal Ohio documented the campaign’s use of Citation X N411NB, owned through V Leasing LLC. An Ohio Secretary of State expenditure export shows that Ramaswamy’s campaign paid TVPX Aircraft Solutions $48,298.25 on Dec. 30, 2025 for an “AIRCRAFT LEASE.” Two more TVPX lease payments—$36,154.07 on May 1 and $45,192.59 on May 19, 2026—bring the campaign’s TVPX total to $129,644.91.

The FAA’s current public record for N989DM identifies the aircraft as a valid Bombardier BD-700-1A11, serial number 9224. It lists a certificate issue date of Dec. 31, 2025 and temporary certificate T259695 issued that day, while withholding the registered owner’s name under federal privacy law. The Ohio export does not name an aircraft, and the FAA page does not name TVPX. The payment and registration action happened on consecutive days, but neither record—and not the timing alone—proves that the TVPX payment covered N989DM.

TVPX explains that its owner-trust service can hold legal title while a beneficiary retains the financial interest and directs an operating-control arrangement or lease. That general description does not identify N989DM’s beneficiary. The Rooster reports that TVPX is N989DM’s registered trustee and attributes the jet to Ramaswamy’s operation, but the current public FAA page does not expose the registrant’s name. The campaign payments, registration timing, that reporting and the jet’s travel establish a strong operational link. They do not establish that Ramaswamy beneficially owns N989DM, that a particular campaign payment covered this tail, or that he was aboard a particular flight.

JetSweep now associates N989DM with both ADCCEA and A092A4 and will also watch for XAA2473 or Rockfish 2473. The FAA can issue another privacy address later, so A092A4 is not a permanent label. A future match would identify the aircraft, not its passengers or the purpose of the trip.