TUTORIAL

201603266

This tutorial is for those who want to take advantage of flightradar24 for MADAR and skywatch activities, or for researchers working on new or somewhat recent "cold cases" as far back as 90 days and maybe even further back, using their pcs or laptops. First, go to
https://www.flightradar24.com/
You should make a desktop icon for the site but you can also find it listed on the MADAR site at
http://www.nicap.org/madar.htm
and going to the second box called Data Archive and click on Live Flight Radar under Important Tools.
Point being, keep this handy. You're going to need it and love it!

But before you do this, to find the times in UTC, print and post close by a copy of the conversion chart for future reference at
https://www.scc-ares-races.org/generalinfo/utcchart.html

After accessing the FW24 program you'll need to center the area of your choosing, (you can even go back up to 90 days if you have the Silver version of FR24) to look at the radar before, during and after a UFO sighting comes to your attention OR MADAR is triggered. Once you have the date, all you need is the time in UTC (not local).

On the right of the flightradar24 screen and above the plus and minus signs on the right there are 5 tools. The 5th one down is the playback tool. After you left click on that tool the rest is easy. Put in the date you want and then the time in UTC. Pick an even hour to encompass the period you are wanting to see. The box to the right is the minutes but it is probably best to leave it blank. Hit play. The playback speed is minimally 12x's normal speed so in 5 minutes you are covering an hour event time.

Once you have mastered this you can experiment with video capture such as Snagit and you will have a file you can keep if it is worth anything after your study.

One thing I need to mention is that you will be seeing targets that are question marks in a small sphere that turn into small aircraft and small aircraft that stop and turn into these spheres. This is the sign of a weakening signal, especially with small a/c cross-sections. However, a UAP MIGHT produce an effect like this. What one should look for is an abrupt turn, such as a right-angle turn or U-turn which is seldom seen on FW24. An UAP usually disappears vertically or ascents in a similar fashion. Vertical ascents were flagged on one of computer studies as VA.

Regarding moving targets and hovering targets, these radars use MTI, which describes a variety of techniques used to find moving objects, like an aircraft, and filter out unmoving ones, like hills or trees. So if a Moving Target Indicator application is used a moving target may just drop off the radar if it goes into hover mode.

All users have free access to 7 days of flight history, Silver subscribers may access 60 days, Gold subscribers 180 days.

There are a few reasons why an aircraft may not be shown. First, the aircraft may not be fitted with an ADS-B transponder meaning it is not compatible with their receiver network. Second, if the aircraft is fitted with a Mode S transponder and not visible, it may be flying in areas with little or no MLAT coverage. Third, the aircraft might be flying outside of the network in areas where they have little or no ADS-B coverage. Fourth, the aircraft might be blocked. By default they block sensitive aircraft such as those associated with military or governmental operations. For private aircraft, they can block flight tracking information at the owners request.

Also noted in our studies some UAOs have sent IFF codes.
http://www.nicap.org/IFF/

There was a UFO sighting at Mt. Vernon, Indiana on March 20th, 2018 and about 6:30 AM. While we were investigating this a MADAR site 30 miles away to the NW at Norris City, Illinois had gone into alert status on the 23rd at 11:19 (and 43 secs) local time. That's 16:19:43 UTC

http://www.nicap.org/madar/radar/

THREE WAYS TO USE FW24
1) Routinely with an extra pc at home or office
2) Routine SKYWATCH activities with laptop or pc in van, etc.
3) Alert Status from local sighting call-ins or MADAR alerts

HOME OR OFFICE
Nice companion when coupled with transmissions from aircraft and police scanners. This could trigger an alert. If you have a recorder (voice or cassette) you could actually tape the transmissions.. The FW24 data is available for playback and recording within 90 days.

ROUTINE SKYWATCH
I would suggest two people operating FlightRadar24 on a SKYWATCH. That way you can take breaks and take small shifts watching the display. It will be difficult to watch the display then go out to observe as the eyes would have to get accustomed to the lower lighting conditions. Operators don't really HAVE to be AT the SKYWATCH and could be anywhere, and this would be a good activity for supporters who either don't want the outdoors or could even be the wives and friends at home. An out-door based FW24 would be a laptop or even a pc in a van, etc. The indoor application would be an additional computer or simply using the only pc for this period while conversing. The purpose of course would be to ID the flights and the painting of targets when objects are observed. Contact between the skywatch team and the radar crew would be by telephone, cellphone or CB radio. You can always obtain this radar data within 90 days if needed. Running FR24 w/o timeouts and popup ads requires the Silver version and is under $10 a year.

Having a good rapport with ARTCs at local airports would be a big plus.

ALERTS
There are several ways you can go into an alert mode.
1) MADAR is triggered in your area.
2) Citizens or law enforcement (via scanner) have a UFO report. If you get a UFO report in-progress or have a MADAR alert you can go into a alert skywatch or operate from home base. Reports a few days old (or older) can be handled with the FW24 archive as well.

Operators should have a legal pad and pen handy at all times. Notes on visual and radar targets should be made when and where possible. Some ambitious and adventurous individuals might even have two skywatch activities separated by some distance.

Having an aircraft and/or police scanner running during an alert isn't very important if they are available. Recording with a voice recorder or cassette, especially during an alert could be valuable data. The best way to record it is to feed the devices into the recorders so that idle local chatter is not included, but the audios can be made to be audible.

A special kit or kits (see Prescribed Load List) should be made up for alert and skywatch teams. That's another subject which needs a report in itself.

Any number of things can and will be accomplished AFTER a sighting or MADAR alert.

Using the FR24 tools you can revisit and record the flights at the exact time of an alert. You can make these "loops" to check other sightings anywhere, not just your area. Which means you can look at areas of interest near you that need to be checked for aerial activity. Knowing times and flight identifications you can get even more information through FOIA if needed.

This page will soon be updated to include a way to get local LiveATC.net (air traffic control) via your laptop or iphone.

Fran Ridge