Not to make light of the situation but wouldn’t that Boeing 737 make the best spy plane then?
In: Technology
GPS uses satellites in order to give the plane itself it’s position which the plane then sends to ATC via other communication means. It’s a navigation tool. RADAR is another navigation tool specifically used on the plane in order to see land masses, other planes, different weather conditions etc.
The way that ATC’s track planes is through certain types of RADAR systems (and reliance on the plane itself sharing that information in some cases). For the most part those are TACAN systems (although others do exist and are utilised). These are also used to tell the plane where it is by broadcasting a signal with a specific longitude and latitude. Either way though, civilian RADAR systems don’t have Over the Horizon capabilities. Which means you can drop out of their range. They also don’t constantly monitor everything below a certain altitude.
The idea is that commercial planes fly specific routes at specific heights, with the intention of always being in range of a tracking system. This is for safety (in the event that a plane needs to make an emergency landing) (or to prevent planes from crashing into each other by tracking them among other reasons).
Either way, a lot of these systems are passive and rely on humans. There’s also UAB’s or beacons that broadcast a signal saying what they are (type of plane, call sign etc) but those don’t have a very long range. Long story short not every area of the sky is being looked at constantly or tracked constantly.
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