What Flight Trackers Actually Show
Flightradar24, FlightAware, ADS-B Exchange, and similar services have made commercial aviation more visible to the public than at any point in history. They are mostly accurate, mostly real-time, and occasionally wrong in specific ways. This page covers how they work, what they can and cannot show, and how to read them correctly.
How Public Trackers Work
Aircraft equipped with ADS-B Out broadcast their position, altitude, speed, and identity on 1090 MHz. Networks of ground receivers — operated commercially (Flightradar24) and by hobbyists (ADS-B Exchange) — pick up these broadcasts and aggregate them into the web-facing maps. Over oceans with no ground coverage, Aireon space-based ADS-B or MLAT (multilateration) fills in.
What the tracker shows is what the aircraft broadcast, not where it independently is. This matters.
GPS Spoofing Shows Up as Weird Tracks
Because ADS-B position is derived from GPS, a spoofed GPS signal produces a spoofed ADS-B broadcast. If the aircraft is over Baghdad but the GPS thinks it is over Beirut, the tracker will show Beirut. During 2024-2026 it has been common to see aircraft appear on trackers at airports they are not at, in circular holding patterns that do not exist, or jumping hundreds of miles instantaneously.
If you see something weird on a tracker over the Eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea, Baltic, or Persian Gulf — spoofing is a likely explanation. The aircraft is fine; the signal was manipulated.
What Trackers Don't Show
- ›Aircraft that block their identifier. Owners can request privacy through Aircraft Privacy (ICAO-assigned random hex codes). You see the aircraft; you do not see its usual identity.
- ›Aircraft not equipped with ADS-B Out. Most large commercial aircraft are; some military, private, or older aircraft are not.
- ›Military aircraft (usually). Military aircraft on sensitive missions typically do not broadcast ADS-B, or broadcast deliberately misleading identifiers.
- ›Oceanic gaps on free tiers. Space-based ADS-B is usually a paid feature on commercial trackers; free tiers may have coverage gaps over oceans.
Informational. Not operational guidance. See Terms of Service.