Has anyone used www.flightaware.com? It's weather update is pretty slick, where you can email wx@flightaware.com with the 4 letter designator for an airport in the subject, and it gives you the METAR and TAF for that airport. There is a myriad of other resources it has too.
This is a great site. I use it a lot to track flights. I've also seen it used to track a flight as it goes through the system. You can look up by the tail number or flight number or just look at the activity for an airport. Registration info includes the Mode S identifier which could be usefull for pulling data on the aircraft from the FAA.
John
Could this be used to track our aircraft during an operation?
Quote from: Tubacap on June 18, 2007, 03:32:21 PM
Could this be used to track our aircraft during an operation?
Good question, but isn't there a big C&D Letter from Nationals on tracking aircraft period? I know we can't even turn on APRS anymore.
Quote from: J.Hendricks on June 18, 2007, 03:42:50 PM
Quote from: Tubacap on June 18, 2007, 03:32:21 PM
Could this be used to track our aircraft during an operation?
Good question, but isn't there a big C&D Letter from Nationals on tracking aircraft period? I know we can't even turn on APRS anymore.
You have to file a flight plan to show up on flightaware, and I don't see too many pilots file in CAP unless they're going IFR. As for CAP's manic depressive C&D nature, ILWG's own N821CP shows up on flightaware as of 17 days ago for a brief 8 minute flight from KPWK to KUGN.
Are you serious there's a C&D on tracking our own assets????? Argh!!
Quote from: Tubacap on June 18, 2007, 04:19:06 PM
Are you serious there's a C&D on tracking our own assets????? Argh!!
It's not as much that they don't want us to track our own, They don't want others tracking us
Quote from: Tubacap on June 18, 2007, 04:19:06 PM
Are you serious there's a C&D on tracking our own assets????? Argh!!
Didn't you know that they must want to have a C&D on everything not under their direct control?? the Wing Banker system, near monopoly to Vaguard, etc.
has anyone developed any sort of real time tracking for corporate assets during missions?
There was a LE agency in Ca that couldnt figure out how the news media found out a high profile suspect was being flown in. The media had used flight aware.
There are ways LE can get around it. CAP CD may be able to do the same. Ill look into it.
As mentioned before if you file you can be tracked. When I worked at the local FBO we could track any aircraft by any number of different ways using FBOweb.com
The downfall was that the tracking was only as real time as an estimate could be. When you took off it was noted, and the computer would then start a distance and time calculator but there were no checks the only way you knew for sure it was right was when you heard them calling approach.
Is this the same with flightaware?
I haven't been able to find one CAP aircraft on flightaware this entire week, and, especially tuesday, every aircraft out of PHT had to file IFR to get out for the DR exercise going on here. Never showed up on scheduled arrivals, departures, and the search option couldn't turn up any of the callsigns.
I had the same problem when using it. Every now and then there would be a random flightpath, but nothing that was consistent. Especially because I knew of a few IFR flight plans that were filed.
I do know that all of the privately owned aircraft show up. In discussion on this board, there was something about not having the general public see where we are, which is fine for some of our missions, but there has to be a way to do real-time tracking of assets. My brain is just meager enough not to know how to do it.
If you'll do a search of their user support forum, you'll find that FlightAware says they generally don't receive track data for CAP flights because they are tagged as military by the FAA, and military track data is not included in the radar data feed. Yes, I know some CPF flights have appeared in the system, but only a scant few. None of the IFR flights I've done in corporate birds are in there.