My guess is that planes reach their cruise heading, altitude and speed by the time they get out of range of ADS-B receivers. Since they follow predefined air co

My guess is that planes reach their cruise heading, altitude and speed by the time they get out of range of ADS-B receivers. Since they follow predefined air corridors, location can be easily inferred from last known information. Obviously it won't be accurate if the plane has changed course to avoid bad weather (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447).