A teenager that previously trolled Elon Musk by tracking his private jet has now turned his sights to Russia's ruling elite—including Vladimir Putin and Roman Abramovich.
Jack Sweeney, a US technology student, has created a new Twitter account called PutinJet to track VIP jets and 'any Putin may use'. It uses sophisticated flight tracking software to provide live updates on takeoff and landings for the planes.
Sweeney wrote in a tweet: "So yeah [Putin Jet Twitter] 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," referring to the flight tracking technology used across the world.
Sweeney is also tracking Russian oligarchs such as Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich's flight patterns using a Russian Oligarch Jets twitter.
Speaking to Bloomberg, he said: "Before this, I didn't even know there were these influential oligarchs like this. They probably do have a decent amount of power from what I can understand.
"The aircrafts these oligarchs have are absolutely crazy. Their planes are huge compared to other jets."
Sweeney said: "People have been asking me about Putin for a while, they wanted to know if they could track him.
"It's just been crazy. I just figured some people would be interested in it. I just didn't think all kinds of people would be."
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The 19-year-old made a name for himself by creating ElonJet, a Twitter account that tracks and shares the whereabouts of Elon Musk's private jet.
Musk demanded Sweeney take down the account and even offered him $5000 and a Tesla Model 3 in exchange.
In a direct message exchange between the teen and Elon Musk, Musk said: “I don't love the idea of being shot by a nutcase."
However, Sweeney turned down the offer and asked for more money and an internship at one of his companies.
When Sweeney explained to Musk how his system works, i.e. by using publicly available flight data, the billionaire seemed surprised that the information was publicly accessible, commenting: “Air traffic control is so primitive.”
- Russia
- Russia Ukraine war
- Elon Musk
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