Flight tracking platforms aggregate ADS-B and multilateration transponder data to produce near-real-time records of aircraft position, altitude, speed, and historical routing. The technique is not simply a matter of opening a tracking website: it requires understanding how transponder data is collected, which platforms filter it and which do not, and how registration records connect a flight path to a beneficial owner. The key identifier throughout is the aircraft registration number, the tail number that bridges live tracking data to the ownership and corporate structure behind it.
The technique applies when verifying the movements of a private jet linked to a sanctioned individual, documenting aircraft connected to illicit cargo transfers, reconstructing the final path of a downed aircraft, or corroborating and refuting official accounts of a flight route. A single position fix is not evidence: transponder data can be spoofed, registrations reassigned, and charter operators misread as owners. Each data point, taken alone, is ambiguous. The pattern, corroborated across platforms and ownership records, is not.
AVI-001 sets out the methodology for identifying, tracking, and attributing aircraft movements to evidentiary standard.
Eight workflow steps, six tooling sources, five false-positive checks, six chain-of-custody requirements.
|
01
Required Tools
Six platforms covering ADS-B feeds, historical data, and registration lookup.
|
02
OPSEC
VPN use, query logging, and cross-platform verification requirements.
|
|
03
Workflow
Eight-step sequence from registration to archived, hashed flight data.
|
04
False Positives
Tail number reuse, spoofed transponders, charter misattribution, and jamming artefacts.
|
|
05
Chain of Custody
Six requirements covering screenshots, hashing, source type notation, and analyst logging.
|
06
Key Queries
Five operator queries across Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange, OpenSky, FAA, and Icarus.
|
Download the card.
A PDF version of AVI-001 is available below for Signal subscribers.
