Plane Tracking

Train spotting has been a hobby for many generations of enthusiasts. It attracted both youth and elders who were so captivated by "spotting" an engine, a particular class of locomotive, either steam,diesel,or electric, or even a carriage,logging this data on record books,as a hobby. Many spotters would exchange the information gathered among other hobbyists. Spotters would travel long distances to visit stations,sidings,junctions all over UK, in all weather,to have sight of their favourite model and record the engine number,with time and place seen. 

Today, Aircraft Tracking,is as popular as train spotting.It involves the observation,together

with photography,noise recording and registration numbers of aircraft,helicopters,gliders, military aircraft including "Stealth" bombers and even drones.The attraction for aircraft tracking was  in the past,for two main reasons among others.Observers noticed the key attributes of an aircraft,the distinctive noise from an engine, the size and make of the aircraft,or possibly the number of vapour trails it leaves,in order to compare with similar size planes. They also  enjoyed seeing various aircraft in special colour schemes or livery and  listened attentively on air band scanners, for the conversation exchanged between pilots and Air Traffic Control operators at airports. 

The distinctive features of an aircraft have always fascinated aircraft spotters,They track the movement of planes using such devices as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast technology or ADS5 decoders,such as Air Nav Systems radar and Kinetic Avionics SBS ,both read and process the radar data and show the movements of planes on a computer screen.

Concorde landing

I had the pleasure of witnessing the landing of the Concorde on its last flight from New York into Heathrow on Friday 24 October 2003, just after 4.00 p.m. I  joined the numerous enthusiasts and curious onlookers,who had crowded the perimeter fence at Heathrow for a last look at the the Concorde landing. It was a sight and the atmosphere was electric,as we all over-heard the voice of the Air Traffic Controller, in communication with the pilot on an audible scanner. 

Plane Plotter

Flightradar 24 is a software, a live air traffic app,which was originated by two Swedish aviation experts in 2006.It now provides real time information about thousands of aircraft around the world. But sadly, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370/MAS370, a scheduled international passenger flight, a Boeing 777-200 ER with registration No.9M-MROC, carrying 227 passengers from 15 nations and a crew of 12,  disappeared on 08 March 2014 enroute from Kaula Lampur to Beijing Capital International Airport. Flightradar did not track any signals from the transponder,neither is there any trace of the plane.

Since the downing of another Malaysian Flight  MH17 with 298 bodies over Eastern Ukraine eight days ago,not only has the sales of Flightrader24 gone viral,but airplane tracking has moved from being an enthusiast hobby to being an essential equipment of aircraft travel research.

According to Bloomberg News,"The growing fascination with flight path stems in part from the dearth of reliable information surrounding the crash,caused most likely by a missle strike over Eastern Ukraine. Flightrader24 data reveals that the airspace over Ukraine was a popular route before the downing, with MH 17 having flown from the same path five days in the past week." 

What has happened since both the above incidents is that the Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has tendered his resignations.perhaps a key to the tragedy.What is more worrying is that air travel routes are under scrutiny by IATA and passengers are getting concerned about airlines passing on costs,resulting in fare increases in the not too distant future. 

Victor Cherubim