Think on it
Bygones rodan…..
I don’t have any bones with the fine work of the aerial police units so forget that and remember this…..
….the information fed to RML / PASSUR for online broadcast includes only: a/c type, height, speed and heading of that civilian air traffic entering / departing only major civilian airports.
1) Any of these fields can be withheld by the web host. (i.e. company / destination, etc as they currently are….)
a. But a quick look at the departure timetable and the addition of a time lag to the equation quickly puts you in the picture for tomorrow’s schedule of departures for said airport.
2) Key squawk codes can be withheld from the online map….(I’m sure if a kittyhawk flight flew into KJFK then it would never be published…and rightly so!)
3) All the ‘secure’ air traffic is treated differently:
a. I’m not expecting RAF stations, only the major hubs.
b. I’m sure Police traffic wouldn’t be published as it would also be considered ‘too sensitive.’
A muse:
……. once upon a time the late Victorians waved red flags in front of pioneering motor cars to ensure they stayed within the law (rather than advocating seat belts and speed restrictions)….
…..once up on a time, the second Elizabethans favoured lagged radar ATC feeds on the net (rather than restricting access to the land under approach / takeoff paths and equipping EVERY a/c with chaff flares) But then by the late Charles III period, no one really cared anymore and air traffic centres realised they could make serious money from selling this data online to tour operators and business without compromising the safety of a/c any further than was ‘already the case……’