Flight-Tracking Freshman Adds Russian Oligarchs To His Twitter Menu

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Jack Sweeney, the 19-year-old college freshman who made recent headlines for tweeting the real-time whereabouts of Elon Musk’s Gulfstream, has taken his pastime a big, perhaps more dangerous, step forward. With the ongoing economic and airspace sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the University of Central Florida information technology major has now established a Twitter account tracking 39 private aircraft operated by Russia’s richest and most powerful oligarchs, including Vladimir Potanin, Roman Abranovich (owner of the elite U.K. Chelsea Football Club soccer team) and billionaire steel magnate Alexander Abramov. According to reports in the U.K. Daily Mail, the Twitter account now has better than 64,000 followers, all with access to regular reports of the movements of the aircraft.

As with his tracking program for Musk’s jet, Sweeney uses ADS-B data supplemented by computer bots to unveil the current locations of the aircraft.

“The aircrafts [sic] these oligarchs have are absolutely crazy,” Sweeney told news outlet Bloomberg. “Their planes are huge compared to other jets. Before this, I didn’t even know there were these influential oligarchs like this. They probably do have a decent amount of power from what I can understand.” If Musk’s reaction to having his whereabouts very publicly displayed was “testy,” it stands to reason Sweeney could find the Russian business power elite far more … resistant.

Sweeney has also been asked about tracking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state aircraft, and added a Twitter account to track the state-operated jet. He told NBC, “It’s just been crazy. I just figured some people would be interested in it.”

Mark Phelps
Mark Phelps is a senior editor at AVweb. He is an instrument rated private pilot and former owner of a Grumman American AA1B and a V-tail Bonanza.

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7 COMMENTS

    • Or guys wearing fancy hats and expensive dark glasses. Or, beautiful mysterious women with thickly accented English.

      • This guy could be doing the world a favor. The legal simpletons have been unable to get past the idea that broadcasting information that is essentially public just because it is displayed openly or is necessarily shared with a public entity should be illegal or a basis for civil damages.
        Yes, you lawyers we understand why the laws we have work out this way. Please let’s not have the regular pedantry. The fact is the law should set limits and it doesn’t.
        When one broadcasts locations and other information unnecessarily, he is crossing a line that should not be crossed because it can lead to bloodshed. As pilots, our lives are greatly affected and limited because many people think there is no need for us to fly around in little airplanes. Why the law cannot similarly limit doxing and broadcasting of information which used to be semi private is beyond me.

  1. The key phase in this article : perhaps more dangerous, step forward.
    In the military this tracking info. would be classified “Secret” for a very good reason.

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