Not to make light of the situation but wouldn’t that Boeing 737 make the best spy plane then?
In: Technology
There are two “kinds” of radar: commercial and military. Commercial radar works by the tracked object broadcasting a radar signal that then is picked up by receivers. Commercial radar works on the principal that you *want* to be tracked. Military radar tracks things that *don’t* want to be tracked, by broadcasting signals and listening for the echo, basically. But both have a range. That Malaysia flight from years ago was lost to civilian radar before it was lost to military radar, until it flew far enough away the detectors lost it. If you turn the commercial radar off, you can go unnoticed on commercial radar. But military will also only pick you up if you’re high enough (there’s a “floor” so they don’t detect the tree next door) and within range. All the other tracking (gps included) works on the principal that you *want* to be tracked, and relies on the plane sending communications to them. Turn off everything, and suddenly, you’re invisible to everyone but the military.
As far as the spy plane thing goes: If you’re spying on the middle of the Pacific Ocean, maybe you can go undetected. But if you’re spying in a nation’s airspace, they’ll pick you up on military radar- unless you’re flying under the radar, but then you’re careening a 737 a few hundred feet above the ground and it’s hard to miss.
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