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How reliable is the data? E.g., I found a number of planes with tail numbers N333AX - N335AX flying along the ocean near King City, CA in weird patterns. But th

How reliable is the data? E.g., I found a number of planes with tail numbers N333AX - N335AX flying along the ocean near King City, CA in weird patterns. But the data also says "took off in King city". ex: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N330AX https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N330AX Are these planes sending bogus data (like shifted by a tens of miles ?) They are old Archer Hunter planes (apparently) owned by some trust., and two of them seem to have flown very close together.

mike_d 6y ago
It is very illegal to transmit false location data. Some older planes don't have GPS enabled transponders so they can only be accurately pinpointed when interrogated by radar. To get a fix tracking networks will calculate the time the signal arrived at multiple receivers and work out the math to ballpark the location.
- ohazi 6y ago
  The deadline for ADS-B conversion was January 2020, so pretty much all of the older aircraft have either been converted, or can no longer be flown without a waiver (which, at this point, will pretty much only be given if you're flying to a shop for the upgrade).
ohazi 6y ago
N330AX is a Hawker Hunter, a jet fighter from the 1950s. It's not surprising that it's owned by a company nor that it flies in formation with similar aircraft. Flying an airplane like this over water for noise abatement purposes is also common, because they're really loud. The flight path looks like airshow practice.
jjwiseman 6y ago
The military does a lot of training and exercises off the coast near Los Angeles, and those aircraft are most likely "aggressor"/target aircraft. See, e.g., https://defpost.com/atac-hawker-hunter-aggressor-aircraft-crashes-off-hawaii-injuring-pilot/ https://defpost.com/atac-hawker-hunter-aggressor-aircraft-cr... Their ownership is obscured via the TVPX trust company, but they're really operated by Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC): https://atacusa.com/ https://atacusa.com/ This sort of training happens all the time, and you get used to seeing lots of aircraft circling around over the ocean in southern California. Edit: Right now in that area I see aircraft from at least two other contractors that do threat simulation for military training, plus an unknown military aircraft. Sometimes you can check the AIS tracking sites and see military ships in the area, too.
- sbisson 6y ago
  Yes, there are a similar bunch of Falcon 20s from Flight Refuelling in the UK that are worth tracking...

mike_d 6y ago

It is very illegal to transmit false location data. Some older planes don't have GPS enabled transponders so they can only be accurately pinpointed when interrogated by radar. To get a fix tracking networks will calculate the time the signal arrived at multiple receivers and work out the math to ballpark the location.

ohazi 6y ago
The deadline for ADS-B conversion was January 2020, so pretty much all of the older aircraft have either been converted, or can no longer be flown without a waiver (which, at this point, will pretty much only be given if you're flying to a shop for the upgrade).

ohazi 6y ago

N330AX is a Hawker Hunter, a jet fighter from the 1950s. It's not surprising that it's owned by a company nor that it flies in formation with similar aircraft. Flying an airplane like this over water for noise abatement purposes is also common, because they're really loud. The flight path looks like airshow practice.

jjwiseman 6y ago

The military does a lot of training and exercises off the coast near Los Angeles, and those aircraft are most likely "aggressor"/target aircraft. See, e.g., https://defpost.com/atac-hawker-hunter-aggressor-aircraft-crashes-off-hawaii-injuring-pilot/ https://defpost.com/atac-hawker-hunter-aggressor-aircraft-cr... Their ownership is obscured via the TVPX trust company, but they're really operated by Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC): https://atacusa.com/ https://atacusa.com/ This sort of training happens all the time, and you get used to seeing lots of aircraft circling around over the ocean in southern California. Edit: Right now in that area I see aircraft from at least two other contractors that do threat simulation for military training, plus an unknown military aircraft. Sometimes you can check the AIS tracking sites and see military ships in the area, too.

sbisson 6y ago
Yes, there are a similar bunch of Falcon 20s from Flight Refuelling in the UK that are worth tracking...