Since June 2017 I'm running a Twitter Bot (also a Mastodon Bot since December 2022) that tweets when an aircraft squawks the ICAO reserved codes 7700 (emergency) or 7600 (radio failure). The 7500 code (hijack) is not tweeted due to various reasons. Information about what a squawk is can be found here.
Please note that not every 7700/7600 squawk is really an emergency. Often the code is typed in by mistake, or a radio failure might just have been a typo in frequency numbers. Do not take action (e.g. by calling the police) solely based on a squawk code, as this code is meant to provide information to air traffic controllers.
My bot is meant to provide early information to aviation fans, so that you can track a probably interesting flight. You can track the flight via any data source, by typing the registration and/or call sign information provided into some search box. There is also a FlightRadar24 track link included, but it is not guaranteed to work (as FlightRadar24 might change data structures).
This is a common effect with aircraft tracked over MLAT. Basically, same as above, aircraft tracking over MLAT
is possibly inaccurate. It often causes wrong position calculations which lead to an inaccurate or jumping
flight path.
The actual aircraft follows a normal flight path, but due to tracking inaccuracies it looks different on your
flight tracking website. Air Traffic Controllers have different data sources and accuracies.
This issue disappears with aircraft migrating to ADS-B capable transponders. The inaccuracies with ADS-B tracked aircraft are much smaller (errors can still happen, but are less likely) - as a result the flight path looks smoother. ADS-B is currently in the process of becoming a worldwide standard in every aircraft, which means that tracking should get better every year.
I cannot provide details, but data is collected via various feeds, mostly ADS-B based. One data source is https://www.adsbexchange.com/ (it's a great site!).
I usually don't have any data about the flights, my bot just posts the squawk codes when received by a source.
It's generally a good idea to see if you can find the flight on LiveATC and
then listen to the pilots and/or controllers. Again, please do not panic if an emergency flight appears to
behave abnormal - it's usually just small things like a passenger feeling unwell.
There are also various spotters out here on Twitter who tweet about ongoing emergencies.
For events that are more in the past (e.g. yesterday, past week), The Aviation Herald writes reports about many incidents and accidents.
Because pilots do not have to squawk 7700. It depends on airline, country, ATC and nature of the emergency if the flight crew squawks 7700. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Additionally, an aircraft might be out of receiver range (coverage) or has other issues like old transponders.
Due to severely increased Twitter spam I am no longer accepting private messages via Twitter. You can still use the contact form or email on my blog.
Oh, and one last thing: I'm not making any money with this bot, there are no affiliate links or ads anywhere. I run this bot solely for informational purposes. Anyone is free to archive the tweets of the bot or use them for statistics or so. I can provide a list of all tweets upon request.
Last update: 28.12.2022