Over the last month, many western countries (including the US, Canada, the EU, and the UK) have imposed sanctions on Russia and Russian companies. They have started imposing similar economy restrictions and sanctions on Russian oligarchs that they believe are close to Putin or have some kind of influence. As a result, Russian oligarchs have been moving their jets and yachts out of reach of those countries.
Track Russian Oligarchs’ Jets Around the World
The Young Tracker of “Blocked” Flights
The same young man (19 years old) that first came up with the Twitter account that tracks Elon Musk’s private plane is now doing the same with the jets of Russian oligarchs. Jack Sweeney even turned down an offer of $5,000 from Elon Musk to stop publicly tracking his private jet (a Gulfstream G-650ER with registration number N628TS). ADS-B data is basically data that an aircraft uses to broadcast their position during flight. It is possible (and free) for jet owners to have their aircraft put on what amounts to a “block list” but that does not apply to the ADS-B data, just the data from the FCC that trackers like FlightRadar24 use.
So, Jack uses automated Twitter accounts to share that ADS-B data of owners who may not otherwise be trackable if they are on the block list. Or, maybe people do not know what they are looking for in regards to tail number and ownership. This is where the Russian Oligarch Jets twitter account comes into play.
Tracking Russian Oligarchs’ Jets
Since last month, Jack has been tweeting out the flight movement of the private jets belonging to these oligarchs. Their assets in foreign countries that level sanctions against them could be taken at any time so there is a lot of movement by many of these flight owners over the last month. The US has released names of 28 of these individuals who they regard as “priorities” for their asset seizure and enforcement.
The Gulfstream G600 | From Gulfstream
If you are a fan of aviation and cool tracking stuff like this, give this Twitter account a look and you will see such things as what kind of aircraft some of these people have as well as where it is traveling from and to. In the most recent tweet (at the time this post was written), you can see that this tracking is for Leonard Blavatnik’s private jet, registration N600EB. It is a 2020 Gulfstream G600 (which has a base price of $57 million) and is currently in New York’s LaGuardia airport after flying just 8 minutes from White Plains, NY. This particular aircraft is on the LADD (that “blocked list”) so this is an easy way to see a flight that you may not be able to otherwise find.
Leonard Blavatnik’s Jet N600EB Landed in New York, US. Apx. flt. time 8 Mins. pic.twitter.com/DTSJnjdTJZ
— Russian Oligarch Jets (@RUOligarchJets) March 21, 2022
This blog is not a political one so I am not attempting to get into any of that but simply sharing something that is of aviation interest, which is something I do write about here. So, try to stay away from the politics in any comments!
