Where does the flight data come from?
It comes from ADS-B, a public radio signal. Most planes must carry an ADS-B Out transmitter to fly in controlled airspace. It sends out the plane's ICAO address, position, height, speed and heading all the time. The signal is not encrypted. Volunteers run ground receivers that record these signals and share them online.
We get live positions from adsb.lol, a free open-data network (shared under the ODbL license). When adsb.lol is busy or down, we switch to ADSB.fi, another volunteer network.
How do we know who owns each jet?
Each tracked plane has an entry in our register. It links the plane's ICAO hex code to a person or a company. Every entry comes from public records. These include the FAA registry and registries in other places, such as Bermuda, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands. We also use court filings, charter records, company reports and news from outlets like Bloomberg, Forbes, the New York Post and Variety. We add a plane only when the public record supports it. We never add one based on a guess.
How we calculate celebrity jet emissions
Here is the formula: CO₂ per flight = hours flown × fuel burn (gallons per hour) × about 9.6 kg of CO₂ per gallon. The 9.6 kg figure is the standard amount of CO₂ released by burning one gallon of Jet-A fuel. Fuel burn comes from the maker's published cruise rate, and we use one typical number for each model. Lifetime totals add up every tracked flight for that owner or plane.
Treat these numbers as good estimates. Published fuel burn assumes a normal cruise and an average load. Real fuel use can be 10 to 15% higher or lower. Think of it like a car's MPG rating. It is useful for comparing planes and owners, but it is not audited carbon accounting. See the celebrity jet emissions ranking for live numbers.
Is the tracking live or delayed?
The live map is real time. So is every celebrity page and aircraft page. Our posts on X, Instagram and Threads run 24 hours late to follow those platforms' rules. On Bluesky and LinkedIn, we post as soon as a flight lands.
What we don't publish
We do not show the live position of planes owned by minors. We also hold back live positions for medical and search-and-rescue flights when we can identify them. The same goes for any flight where a live position could put someone at risk in the near term. In those cases, we publish the flight record later, after a delay.
Celebrity jet tracking questions
How does Celebplanes know which jet belongs to which celebrity?
We build our register by hand from public records. Sources include FAA registration filings and other registries, such as Bermuda, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands. We also use company flight department disclosures, charter manifests, court filings and news reports from Bloomberg, Forbes, the New York Post and others. Each entry lists the owner, the tail number, the ICAO hex address and the aircraft type. We add a new entry when the public record appears.
Where does the live tracking data come from?
Planes with ADS-B send out their position, height, speed, heading and ICAO hex code all the time. The signal is not encrypted. We get it from adsb.lol, a free open-data network, with ADSB.fi as a backup. When a hex code matches a plane in our register, we show its owner on the map.
Is celebrity jet tracking legal?
Yes. The FAA requires ADS-B Out in most controlled airspace. It is unencrypted on purpose, so other planes and air traffic control can use it. Anyone can listen with a radio that costs about $30. Sharing information that is already public is protected speech in most places, including the U.S. Public-interest groups and university researchers use the same data.
What about FAA LADD?
LADD stands for Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed. Under LADD, the FAA asks tracking sites that use its data, such as FlightAware, to hide a plane from public view. LADD does not change the plane's ADS-B signal. The plane still sends its position in public. Some open data networks do not honor LADD at all. Some celebrities have joined LADD, but their planes can still be tracked from public sources.
Why is there a 24-hour delay on some social posts?
To follow platform rules. X and Meta have rules about sharing live locations. So every flight post on X, Instagram and Threads goes out 24 hours late. On Bluesky and LinkedIn, we post each flight as soon as it lands, because those platforms have no such rule. The live map and the celebrity and aircraft pages always show real-time data.
How are celebrity private jet emissions calculated?
For each flight, we multiply the hours flown by the model's published fuel burn in gallons per hour. Then we multiply by about 9.6 kg of CO₂ per gallon of Jet-A fuel. Lifetime totals add up every tracked flight for a plane or owner. These are best estimates. Published fuel burn assumes a normal cruise, and real use varies by 10 to 15%. The emissions page has the full ranking.
What does Celebplanes choose not to publish?
We do not publish the live position of planes owned by minors or by people we know face a higher risk. We also hold back live positions for medical, search-and-rescue and government flights when we can identify them. The same goes for any flight where a live position could create a near-term safety risk. In those cases, we still publish the finished flight record, with a delay where needed.
Owner matches come from the FAA registry, adsb.lol (ODbL) and ADSB.fi data, and SEC filings. They may be incomplete or out of date. Methodology · Report an error. For observational use only.