Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
As you're no doubt aware, commercial aircraft rarely transmit their registrations via Mode S or ADS-B, so sources such as FR24 rely on deducing the identity of the aircraft on the screen from their transmitted ICAO 24-bit address using proprietary and/or public domain tie-up databases.
On the handful of occasions that I've seen FR24 or other flight trackers display an incorrect identity, it has mostly been due to the aircraft in question transmitting the wrong 24-bit address due to either a technical fault or being wrongly configured.
It's happened to me maybe half a dozen times over the last 10 years or so - not a bad average!
Fair comment Dave, but I have also seen wrong origin/destination information attached to a particular flight as well - maybe for the same reasons, (I am not referring to N/A of course). I can quote delay codes to you ad infinitum, but I know naff all about how the FR24 system works!
