ADSB tracking (or lack thereof)

4RNB

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4RNB
When I bought my plane equipped with ADSB it could not be tracked on flight tracking apps. I assumed this was from previous owner request during avionics install.

My new avionics install is about done, a test flight has been completed, I was not able to see any tracking-flight aware says this is per owner request.

My brief perusal online suggests that if ADSB was installed such to allow tracking, something must be going on at the level of the FAA and that I need to request tracking be allowed again.

http://fltplan.com/blocking_premium...quests must include,Tail Number to be blocked.

So I am considering trying to allow my plane to be tracked. I have some general privacy concerns but am really not important enough for the Elon Musk jet twitter guy to follow. I tend to not broadcast my schedule online after a friend had her house broken into while at work (she put her business ALL OVER facebook).

So my questions for you:
1. If I want to allow tracking on my plane I need to confirm installer settings allow this and then reach out to FAA?
2. What do most GA flyers use and why?
3. Anyone here use full or partial blocking?
4. Does blocking in anyway impair search and rescue?

Thanks.
 
Did you track it on sites other than flightaware?

The other sites don't adhere to the do not track requests.
 
Did you track it on sites other than flightaware?

The other sites don't adhere to the do not track requests.

I'm willing to track using anything. I only looked the other day because my avionics shop took my plane for a test flight and I wanted to see where all they flew, nothing showed up. What other sites should I use?
 
OMG, that looks way to complicated.

As far as I know there is no "find all the flights of ...". You can however use the History function to step through day by day.

First use the reg to find the aircraft (random aircraft chosen)
Space inserted to make sure URL is visible to reader, real link follows:-
h ttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=N4310F

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=N4310F

adsbexchange then uses the icao hex ID instead

Once you find a flight you can turn on history (hit "+" beside "History") and step back and forward a day at a time to find other flights. Bookmark one of the links to a valid flight.

If you don't like it you can write your own code to interrogate the database. No, I don't know how to.

URL of the history link for this flight for today.
lat=, lon=, and zoom= are just for the display and don't affect whether the aircraft is found or not.

h ttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a52933&lat=41.832&lon=-74.770&zoom=7.0&showTrace=2023-06-11

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a52933&lat=41.832&lon=-74.770&zoom=7.0&showTrace=2023-06-11
 
Last edited:
As far as I know there is no "find all the flights of ...". You can however use the History function to step through day by day.

First use the reg to find the aircraft (random aircraft chosen)
Space inserted to make sure URL is visible to reader, real link follows:-
h ttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=N4310F

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=N4310F

adsbexchange then uses the icao hex ID instead

Once you find a flight you can turn on history (hit "+" beside "History") and step back and forward a day at a time to find other flights. Bookmark one of the links to a valid flight.

If you don't like it you can write your own code to interrogate the database. No, I don't know how to.

URL of the history link for this flight for today.
lat=, lon=, and zoom= are just for the display and don't affect whether the aircraft is found or not.

h ttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a52933&lat=41.832&lon=-74.770&zoom=7.0&showTrace=2023-06-11

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a52933&lat=41.832&lon=-74.770&zoom=7.0&showTrace=2023-06-11


Neat site! Pm sent, is there a way to find aircraft fro. Previous flights if they are not currently in the air?
 
I have done a bit more fiddling and it turns out you can go straight into the history mode for a particular reg.

Human readable form (with extra space) followed by real link:-
h ttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=n4310f&showTrace=2023-06-09

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=n4310f&showTrace=2023-06-09

No flight that day.
Step forwards a day and you find a flight.

upload_2023-6-11_13-40-51.png upload_2023-6-11_13-42-7.png
 
I have done a bit more fiddling and it turns out you can go straight into the history mode for a particular reg.

Human readable form (with extra space) followed by real link:-
h ttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=n4310f&showTrace=2023-06-09

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?reg=n4310f&showTrace=2023-06-09

No flight that day.
Step forwards a day and you find a flight.

View attachment 117938 View attachment 117939

thanks, it just took a minute but the. I could find my plane and test flight
 
Neat site! Pm sent, is there a way to find aircraft fro. Previous flights if they are not currently in the air?

Until 5 minutes ago the answer to this was - I don't have one unless you have the icao number. However see previous post.
 
I could find my plane and test flight

I suspect that:-

The major sites like flightaware, flightradar24, have links into the FAA (or whatever it is) feeds. They get the same info as air traffic control. This includes satellite data. They have very good coverage.

I think that adsbexchange relies entirely on amateur enthusiast receivers and so does not have such good coverage, especially near the ground or over the ocean or in remote areas.

I am not at all sure about any of that, just slightly educated guesses.
 
If you were squawking 1200 and your ADSB equipment supports anonymous mode, nothing will show up because you're not sending your tail number. To test whether that's the issue, you can either take a flight where you have a discrete code (IFR or flight following), or go for a flight while someone looks at the real-time map on flightradar24 to see if they see a VFR flight where you are.
 
I suspect that:-

The major sites like flightaware, flightradar24, have links into the FAA (or whatever it is) feeds. They get the same info as air traffic control. This includes satellite data. They have very good coverage.

I think that adsbexchange relies entirely on amateur enthusiast receivers and so does not have such good coverage, especially near the ground or over the ocean or in remote areas.

I am not at all sure about any of that, just slightly educated guesses.

Flight Aware uses amatuer receivers. They used to give them away to develop better coverage.
 
Flight Aware uses amatuer receivers. They used to give them away to develop better coverage.
But not exclusively, like ADSBExchange. Flightaware also receives and displays a tremendous amount of data from the FAA (and other government sources around the world). That's why Flightaware hides flights (required by the FAA) and ADSBExchange doesn't.
 
How long of a history does adsbexchange keep? Cool that you can see the squawking code, flightaware doesn’t show this.

Lights in rural areas will still have spotty coverage on either source.
 
Off topic, but yesterday flying I saw two planes that did not show up on ADSB (yes, I have ADSB In). And one was within the SFRA 60 NM veil.
 
How long of a history does adsbexchange keep?

No idea but I spent a few minutes checking and in the case of one aircraft they seem to have have flight records back to 11 June 2016. That's 7 years ago. I checked by sampling and binary chopping.

N562FE icao=a72eda
Fedex DC10
Retired 2 June 2021 after 43 years in service
https://simpleflying.com/fedex-md-10-10f-retirement/


2010 a few consecutive days checked NO Flight

2014-05-01 NO
... NO
2014-06-01 NO - 1 month

2015-05-01 NO

2016-03-30 NO
2016-04-01 NO
... NO
2016-06-10 NO - About 11 weeks with no flights

2016-06-11 YES
... YES
2016-06-19 YES
2016-06-30 YES
2016-07-08 YES
2016-09-30 YES

2017-05-24 YES

2018-05-24 YES

2020-05-19 YES

2021-06-02 YES Last revenue flight to Memphis
2021-06-04 YES To Victorville
 
Off topic, but yesterday flying I saw two planes that did not show up on ADSB (yes, I have ADSB In). And one was within the SFRA 60 NM veil.

Not entirely sure but ADSB bounces signals off commercial jets flying high above so if there is no traffic nearby and you’re not near a ground based ADSB station then that flight at that moment won’t show up. This is especially true in rural areas and at night (when there is less traffic). This happens to me within the Chicago class bravo ring too at certain more remote sections.
 
Off topic, but yesterday flying I saw two planes that did not show up on ADSB (yes, I have ADSB In). And one was within the SFRA 60 NM veil.

Both ADS-B Out and a transponder with mode C are not required below 10,000 MSL in E airspace with exceptions for the E airspace above a C or B airspace, inside the 30 NM mode C veil, and over the Gulf of Mexico within 12 NM of the shore line and below 3000 MSL. The SFRA 60 NM area around the DCA VORTAC is not mentioned in 91.225, so is not relevant, so what you saw is likely permitted.
 
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