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Why is my airplane flying without me? Or, who stole my hex code?

1001001

Well Known Member
Just got an alert from Flightaware on my tail number saying my airplane is flying somewhere in North Carolina. I am nearly 100% positive it is still sitting in my hangar.

Certainly this has happened to others. I can think of a couple of ways it could happen:

1. ATC gets a request for flight following from someone and types in the tail number incorrectly

2. Someone set up their ADS-B wrong

3. Someone is spoofing my transponder hex code

Any other possibilities? Not likely, but what happens if this flight gets violated for something? Does the FAA write me a letter as the registered owner?

Any other thoughts?
 
This happened to me, with option #2.

It is very easy to type in the wrong ICAO code in the ADS-B setup.

It would be easy for the FAA to flag these errors if the ADS-B transmission included the ICAO code as well as the N-number, so they could cross-check for errors, but I guess the N number is not included.

I called the FAA (twice) and AOPA to ask for help, and between these two, the imposter fixed their ADS-B.

Good luck.
 
I admittedly made this error myself while building my rv10. In the midst of the build the only way I could get my transponder to operate to test was to input a mode s code. Since I wasn?t registered yet and didn?t have a code, I put in the code from my rv6. Fast forward a year later and after forgetting about the wrong input code I recently got a letter from the faa saying my rv6 is outputting bad information and if not corrected would be ?filtered? from not receiving any adsb weather or traffic information. Since my rv6 has been grounded for about a year now and hasn?t been flying, I called the faa to inquire as to this discrepancy and found out the info they were getting was my rv6 mode S code with my rv10 tail number. I?ve been flying in the system with atc with my rv10 and apparently this doesn?t show up in real time since not one controller has mentioned anything. It?s corrected now but can see how easy it would be for someone to input someone else?s n number and mode S code since they are both published in the faa public database. Sure could get someone else in trouble by busting a tfr or similar if that?s the case.
 
Does everyone know that there is no way to block a specific aircraft from receiving traffic and/or weather via ADS-B in? They can certainly not process your N-number from ADS-B out, but you will always get weather when you are in range, and since so many aircraft will be transmitting out, it seems unlikely that you will miss much traffic reporting. The data packets aren't targeted to specific aircraft, they are transmitted un-encrypted to everyone in range of a station.

Not to say that you shouldn't enter the proper data in your transmitter, but if they said they would block your reception, it isn't possible with the current protocols or hardware.
 
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Opposite

I have the opposite question... I have made several flights since my install but I have never shown up on the tracker sites? and my FA test passed with no red boxes. Should I be worried?
 
security

Cyber security people think about similar issues everyday. As pilots, we are a trusting group. Think a tower controller ever looks at the N number with his binoculars to see if the number is the same as what he/she heard on the radio?
NAH....
You program your plane with an ID. Who says you told the truth?
A bad actor with ill intent could not have an easier job... than spoofing ID of an aircraft in this country. Now go back to your morning coffee... I am off to the hangar.
 
I have the opposite question... I have made several flights since my install but I have never shown up on the tracker sites? and my FA test passed with no red boxes. Should I be worried?

If by "tracker" you mean FlightAware or one of the other tracking sites... You need to enable "position only" flights to be displayed. That is the only way to get listing of flights where you are not entered into the ATC system through a flight plan.
 
I got a registered letter of investigation from a Houston FSDO office. If the FAA

guy had only looked a bit farther he would have found out that the N number

was only RESERVED to me.

It was erroneously being transmitted by a helicopter that services oil rigs.

Never heard back.
 
Keeping up with your own airplane

Just got an alert from Flightaware on my tail number saying my airplane is flying somewhere...

That's a good idea for all of us. I, too, recently entered my own N-number into my "My Alerts" list. That way, if my airplane is in the system, I will know about it. You don't have to have ADS-B out to be tracked on Flightaware.
 
If by "tracker" you mean FlightAware or one of the other tracking sites... You need to enable "position only" flights to be displayed. That is the only way to get listing of flights where you are not entered into the ATC system through a flight plan.

Looking like maybe it only tracks IFR flights? Not sure really where t find the flights to be displayed but I'm thinking that if this is what I worry about, life must be pretty darn good!!
 
Looking like maybe it only tracks IFR flights? Not sure really where t find the flights to be displayed but I'm thinking that if this is what I worry about, life must be pretty darn good!!

You have to register an account, even a free one, to enable the position only flights within your settings. If you're not logged in, it will not be available.

At least this is the way it is on FlightAware. I use this function as an easy way to keep up on my logbook, as it records all of my flights with off/on deck times.
 
This system is ripe for abuse. Anyone can go to the FAA website and get your hex code. Anyone can re-program their ADS-B with that code. If I had nefarious intentions, that's what I would do.
 
Cyber security people think about similar issues everyday. As pilots, we are a trusting group. Think a tower controller ever looks at the N number with his binoculars to see if the number is the same as what he/she heard on the radio?
NAH....
You program your plane with an ID. Who says you told the truth?
A bad actor with ill intent could not have an easier job... than spoofing ID of an aircraft in this country. Now go back to your morning coffee... I am off to the hangar.

Yes, I actually think about this kind of stuff all the time. There are a lot of holes in many automated systems.
 
That's a good idea for all of us. I, too, recently entered my own N-number into my "My Alerts" list. That way, if my airplane is in the system, I will know about it. You don't have to have ADS-B out to be tracked on Flightaware.

Generally not, but if you aren?t flying ?in the system? (with a discrete 4096 code) the only way you can see most flights is as an ?enterprise user.? Fortunately you can get a free enterprise account with FlightAware by operating an ADS-B feeder for them.
 
Yahtzee!

You have to register an account, even a free one, to enable the position only flights within your settings. If you're not logged in, it will not be available.

At least this is the way it is on FlightAware. I use this function as an easy way to keep up on my logbook, as it records all of my flights with off/on deck times.

Thanks for your help, I registered and just like that, all my flights showed up.
 
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