Using a machine-learning algorithm to sift aviation data for flight patterns resembling aircraft operated by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, BuzzFeed finds that U.S. airspace is buzzing with military and police planes tracking drug traffickers, testing new spying technology, even hovering above the Republican National Convention. The findings seem sure to trigger concerns about both privacy and the security of sensitive operational methods.
From BuzzFeed News:
Read Full Article »Most military aircraft don't have civilian registrations and aren't recorded on commercial flight-tracking websites. But a number of military spy planes nevertheless showed up in the Flightradar24 data.
We were initially baffled by some of the aircraft the algorithm flagged: They included one plane that identified itself as a powered parachute, and another as a small drone owned by a photographer.The location of their circling paths, and some digging into the history of the aircraft registrations, solved the mystery. They were U-28A spy planes operated by US Air Force Special Operations Command from its base at Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle.
