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This OSINT guide explains how you can track flights during an investigation using Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques and tools.
Sometimes, you may need to find information regarding flights that famous people may be traveling on, or you may be able to track down a military aircraft. You can get an idea of how many flights are operated from a specific airport or the number of flights of a specific airline. The type of information may seem difficult to obtain, but it is all possible with OSINT.
I'll show you, using a website called RadarBox.com, how we can get a lot of information about aircraft tracking.
List of terms and technologies
ADS-B
Automatic dependent broadcast (ADS-B) is a surveillance technology in which an aircraft determines its position using satellite navigation and broadcasts it periodically, allowing OSINT investigators to track the flight. Modern aircraft are equipped with ADS-B transponders.
The data transmitted by the aircraft is unencrypted and easily received by antennas on the ground. This technology has replaced the traditional old ground-based radar system.
Effective January 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration has made it mandatory to equip ADS-B for all aircraft in most US-controlled airspaces. This allowed almost every aircraft to have an ADS-B transponder.
Call Sign
Each aircraft uses a unique identifier, that is, a call sign throughout the flight. Commercial aircraft use a call sign that depends entirely on its route. While private aircraft use their registration numbers as their callsign, on commercial aircraft the callsign may change for each flight.
Registration
All aircraft are registered and have a registration number similar to automobiles. The registration number is present on the rear of the fuselage just in front of the tail, in earlier times more often on the tail itself, the registration is usually called the "tail number".
This registration number is unique among countries. Any aircraft registered in one country will change its registration number when purchased and registered in another country.
Serial number
Its manufacturing company provides each aircraft with a serial number. You can take this as the VIN vehicle identification number on vehicles. This serial number is immutable, making it useful for tracking an aircraft over time between owners, registrations and countries.
Steps to track an airplane
Create a free account at Radarbox.Com
Follow the link: https://www.radarbox.com/
Select the option at the bottom "Create a free account".
After creating a free account, you will see a screen where each flight can be seen in real time around the world.
It works just like a Google map, where we can go to any region. As we approach the US state of Oregon, we see each plane moving on a map with more detailed information including the registration number of each plane, its origin and destination, and the type of plane.
Click on an aircraft to see additional information related to the flight.
Based on this, we can obtain information about the owner of the aircraft, the source and destination of the flight, registration number, aircraft type and serial number.
Track the flight
We can track the flight (in our case, from Portland to Sitka). At the bottom you will find the "View Route" option, which will show us the entire route of the selected flight.
If you want to follow a flight, click "Follow" in the lower left corner and you can follow this flight throughout its flight.
Update to get more details
Without a doubt, with a free account, we can find a lot of information. However, there are other features such as circular speed, vertical speed, aircraft age and some other data that are hidden.
Also, one significant downside to using a free account is that it time out after just 10 minutes. In addition, free users can only get 7 days of history for the plane.
The site offers many types of paid accounts to get more information related to each flight.
For researchers, OSINT Spotter may be a suitable option; however, it totally depends on what kind of data you need.
If your investigation is about tracking a flight or aircraft, then this is the ideal place to get all the data related to the target flight.
Sometimes, you may need to find information regarding flights that famous people may be traveling on, or you may be able to track down a military aircraft. You can get an idea of how many flights are operated from a specific airport or the number of flights of a specific airline. The type of information may seem difficult to obtain, but it is all possible with OSINT.
I'll show you, using a website called RadarBox.com, how we can get a lot of information about aircraft tracking.
List of terms and technologies
ADS-B
Automatic dependent broadcast (ADS-B) is a surveillance technology in which an aircraft determines its position using satellite navigation and broadcasts it periodically, allowing OSINT investigators to track the flight. Modern aircraft are equipped with ADS-B transponders.
The data transmitted by the aircraft is unencrypted and easily received by antennas on the ground. This technology has replaced the traditional old ground-based radar system.
Effective January 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration has made it mandatory to equip ADS-B for all aircraft in most US-controlled airspaces. This allowed almost every aircraft to have an ADS-B transponder.
Call Sign
Each aircraft uses a unique identifier, that is, a call sign throughout the flight. Commercial aircraft use a call sign that depends entirely on its route. While private aircraft use their registration numbers as their callsign, on commercial aircraft the callsign may change for each flight.
Registration
All aircraft are registered and have a registration number similar to automobiles. The registration number is present on the rear of the fuselage just in front of the tail, in earlier times more often on the tail itself, the registration is usually called the "tail number".
This registration number is unique among countries. Any aircraft registered in one country will change its registration number when purchased and registered in another country.
Serial number
Its manufacturing company provides each aircraft with a serial number. You can take this as the VIN vehicle identification number on vehicles. This serial number is immutable, making it useful for tracking an aircraft over time between owners, registrations and countries.
Steps to track an airplane
Create a free account at Radarbox.Com
Follow the link: https://www.radarbox.com/
Select the option at the bottom "Create a free account".
After creating a free account, you will see a screen where each flight can be seen in real time around the world.
It works just like a Google map, where we can go to any region. As we approach the US state of Oregon, we see each plane moving on a map with more detailed information including the registration number of each plane, its origin and destination, and the type of plane.
Click on an aircraft to see additional information related to the flight.
Based on this, we can obtain information about the owner of the aircraft, the source and destination of the flight, registration number, aircraft type and serial number.
Track the flight
We can track the flight (in our case, from Portland to Sitka). At the bottom you will find the "View Route" option, which will show us the entire route of the selected flight.
If you want to follow a flight, click "Follow" in the lower left corner and you can follow this flight throughout its flight.
Update to get more details
Without a doubt, with a free account, we can find a lot of information. However, there are other features such as circular speed, vertical speed, aircraft age and some other data that are hidden.
Also, one significant downside to using a free account is that it time out after just 10 minutes. In addition, free users can only get 7 days of history for the plane.
The site offers many types of paid accounts to get more information related to each flight.
For researchers, OSINT Spotter may be a suitable option; however, it totally depends on what kind of data you need.
If your investigation is about tracking a flight or aircraft, then this is the ideal place to get all the data related to the target flight.
