Flight tracking, like online flight trackers, expose the polluting journeys of VIPs

THE internet trend bring unexpected characters and sites to the fore: this time it’s the turn of the flight tracking portalsknown in English as flight tracking. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan resulted in record visits to Flightradar24, one of the largest airline flight tracking sites. Other similar sites and social accounts of flight tracking they are spreading rapidly because they allow you to control all air travel in the world in real time. Included even the private jets of VIPs who now have to respond to the accusations of those who, after having tracked their flights thanks to online tools, blame them for too short and polluting journeys.

How flight tracking sites work

Flight tracker sites are based on one publicly available surveillance technology known as ADS-B (Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) which allows aircraft to transmit their position and other information to anyone with a receiver. The data is transmitted in real time and has virtually no delay. Pelosi’s flight was watched live by around 3 million users according to Flightradar24. In recent months, the passage of a US aircraft in Ukraine has aroused just as much interest and the same happens during the transfer market because, as told by Flightradar24 spokesperson Ian Petchenik to the Guardian newspaper, fans are delighted to find the routes of the private jets chartered by the players to anticipate their transfers. The portal founded in Sweden can rely on 30 thousand volunteers equipped with a receiver that update the data and cross them with the satellite ones to keep the map of air flights up-to-date.

The problem of vip travel

The availability of ADS-B technology and other instrument sensors open-data have allowed some users to reveal the habits of VIPs regarding flights. Privacy takes a back seat since we are dealing with well-known characters; in addition, the tech tools allow you to annotate the short and therefore more polluting air travel made by celebrities. According to an analysis of the Twitter account Celebjets, members of the Kardashian family and rapper Drake are among the main offenders. Thanks to the sites of flight trackingthe social page found that Kim Kardashain recently took a 40-minute private jet trip between two California locations: the journey emitted a ton of carbon dioxide, roughly the same amount produced by a car that is driven for six months. Taylor’s shortest flight recorded in 2022 was just 36 minutes when his jet flew from Missouri to Nashville. “It is disappointing to read this news! I don’t understand how one can live this way and not care about the effects on the planet. I’m a Taylor fan but that’s not goodcommented one user in response to a Celebjets tweet.

Private aircraft belonging to other celebrities including Travis Scott, Steven Spielberg, Mark Wahlberg and boxer Floyd Mayweather have made flights over equally short and therefore unjustifiable distances according to the opinion of the social networks. The newspaper Telegraph reports that private jet flights create five to 14 times more harmful emissions per passenger than a commercial airplane and pollute 50 times more than a train. After the protests and messages arrived on their official pages, some VIPs ran for cover. Drake explained that his jet is often chartered, while Kylie Jenner deleted a post bragging about her luxury plane. Thanks to sites of flight tracking From now on, the photos of celebrities on their private jets are likely to drop significantly, making social media a little less elitist place.