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Flight Aware shows plane flying without me!

DickF

Active Member
Flight Aware shows my plane flying in VT but it is really in my hangar in TX..

I suspect I?m not the first on this so I?m hoping someone has info on the best actions for me to take - ie who to contact etc.

Thanks
Dick
 
Controller probably entered a wrong call sign in (yours) and flight aware pinged it. Happens all the time especially if you have a shorter N number. Don’t contact anyone, let it go.
 
That's really odd. Could someone be using your N number to file or get flight following?

That would be my first thought. I have mixed up N numbers on company aircraft once in a while getting flight following and it follows the N number for sure.
 
I keep receiving a bill from some airport in New Jersey for a $10 landing fee for my Midget Mustang. It?s never been east of Colorado. Flight Aware shows that it?s a Cirrus or something.
 
The FlightAware report is a position only report and the flights are short duration so I?m guessing the cause might be an incorrectly configured ADSB ?
 
Someone has typed in your N-number (accidentally or intentionally) when configuring their ADS-B out device, and that’s what FlightAware is showing. You dont have to contact ATC for flight following or be talking to anyone at all for FLightAware to show your ADS-B track (note: it doesn’t work all the time...some flights never get shown...real reliable, huh?).

What can you do about it? I have no idea, but maybe contact your FSDO and see if they have an idea, just to be on the record as having notified them that someone else is using your ID. They may have no clue what you’re talking about however - some of them are still trying to figure out transponders, much less ADS-B....
 
Don?t expect help from you friendly feds.

That is happening to me also. There is a Bonanza in SW Florida that shows up with my N number. i called the ATL FSDO and explained it and was directed to contact the email that generates the auto ADSB check. Well, no help there. Called back and the nice gubment employee told me he had no idea who to contact about it. Still going on occasionally.
And they are trusting this system to monitor all us airplanes out there...Good luck.
 
I?m waiting for the airport in New Jersey to send me to collections over the $10 landing fee.

Brief glimpse of what we have to look forward to as various entities attempt to monetize ADS-B.
 
Flight Aware shows my plane flying in VT but it is really in my hangar in TX..

I suspect I?m not the first on this so I?m hoping someone has info on the best actions for me to take - ie who to contact etc.

Thanks
Dick

I promise I'll bring it back as soon as I'm done enjoying it..
 
I have seen this same issue so I contacted Potomac approach where the false targets of me were being displayed. They looked into it and came to the conclusion that when an aircraft requests flight following they only enter the last 3 digits of the tail number. FlightAware then does a lookup for the closest match. That was their explanation
 
I have seen this same issue so I contacted Potomac approach where the false targets of me were being displayed. They looked into it and came to the conclusion that when an aircraft requests flight following they only enter the last 3 digits of the tail number. FlightAware then does a lookup for the closest match. That was their explanation

I?m sure that is true - but I have never talked to ATC with my latest airplane, and it has shown up on FlightAware dozens of times - so FlightAware does track you without having flight following. And the only way it knows who I am is becasue of what I have entered in the setup page of the avionics.

So N-Numbers can get entered (correctly and incorrectly) both ways....
 
I wonder if this issue will eventually get sorted out by the biennial transponder checks...the guys who do mine verify that the ADS-B Out code is correct for my tail number, but I don't know if that's a requirement of if it's just something they do because they provide good service.
 
I have seen this same issue so I contacted Potomac approach where the false targets of me were being displayed. They looked into it and came to the conclusion that when an aircraft requests flight following they only enter the last 3 digits of the tail number. FlightAware then does a lookup for the closest match. That was their explanation

Now that makes sense. The plane that sets off alerts for me has the same last 3 numbers and letters as I do. Alas, another mystery of the universe may have a simple, even nonsensical explanation.
I?ll sleep better tonight.
 
Paul, I forgot to add that the plane that was mistaken as me, was mode C only and did not have ADS-B. Had it had ADS-b it probably would have been tracked correctly. On the other hand, all it takes is a knob twist on my xponder to change the hex code and become whoever you want!
 
Alas, another mystery of the universe may have a simple, even nonsensical explanation.

It might be true but I still refuse to believe it!!!

Tin_foil_hat_2.jpg


:D
 
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Same for me..... they show a flight of N729PG in the southern tip of Florida. My aircraft has never been further south than sunNfun in Lakeland.
 
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