Jack Sweeney, the 19-year-old student who had developed a program capable of tracking Elon Musk’s private jet, has now changed his target. He has now decided to hunt down the planes of Russian billionaires.
A situation from which the Russian oligarchs would have done well, especially since they are currently under international pressure following the invasion of Ukraine by their country. But the young aviation enthusiast who had already become famous on the Internet last February, thanks to the “Elon’s Jet” Twitter account he had created and which retraced the movements ofElon Muskthis time launched two new accounts still on the same social network.
Named “Russian Oligarch Jets” and “Putin Jet” respectively, the accounts operate similarly to “Elon Musk’s”. That is, they are powered by what is called a ‘bot’ which analyzes data relating to aircraft take-offs and landings, such as ‘aircraft longitude, latitude and altitude, all by calculating their location using an algorithm created in 2020 by Jack Sweeney”, as detailed in the newspaper The Wall Street.
Lukoil/Vagit Alekperov’s Jet VP-CLO Took off near Moscow, Moscow Oblast, RU. pic.twitter.com/ILWotic26Z
— Russian Oligarch Jets (@RUOligarchJets) March 5, 2022
According to Bloomberg, the young man explained that he “opened the accounts following receiving numerous requests to follow the planes of the Russian oligarchs”. He then used a list of planes followed by a blog called Radar Spots, in order to quickly create accounts on Twitter.
“Their planes are huge compared to other jets”
Jack Sweeney went on to say that “the planes of these oligarchs are absolutely crazy”, since the richest people in Russia traveled on commercial size planes like an Airbus A319 and a Boeing 737. “Their planes are huge compared to others jets”, remarked the young developer.
So yeah @PutinJet is live now :), don’t expect this to be too accurate though there are a dozen VIP Russian planes, and ADS-B coverage isn’t great in Russia.
— Jack Sweeney (@JxckSweeney) February 26, 2022
And among the various planes and helicopters that the “Russian Oligarch Jets” account tracks are those of Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, as well as the billionaire who made his fortune in steel, Alexander Abramov, or even the richest person in Russia who is none other than Vladimir Potanin.
According to Colby Howard, president of Paragon Intel, the company that provides business aviation intelligence, what makes Jack Sweeney’s accounts so unique, “is their ease of access and the engaging window that it delivers on the lives of today’s billionaires”.
He sees it as a form of “people magazine” version of business aviation intelligence, because as he puts it, “people are obsessed with wealth more than ever. It’s almost a form of paparazzi, which is why it’s so popular.” And indeed, the two Twitter accounts managed by Jack Sweeney, together have more than 400,000 subscribers.
