If FR24 would show all VFR traffic, on a sunny saterday afternoon the screen would be totally cluttered with small aircraft.
Most FR24 visitors won’t be interested in small GA traffic. My guess is that VFR traffic is filtered out based on transponder code.
My IFR flights with the PH-PCA usually show up in FR24, while when I’m flying the same aircraft VFR, you will not find it…
I think you are on to something here. The a/c I mostly fly in the US (VFR in my case), flies a lot on IFR flightplans. These flights come up, mine only do occasionally. It may also have to do with the altitude you fly at, in fact FR24 allude to that in their FAQs (the link I posted earlier), WRT MLAT.
For many years, the UK used to notam a restricted airspace corridor (Class G reclassified into Class A) when the queen was going somewhere.
Aaaah. The “purple airways”!
My guess is that VFR traffic is filtered out based on transponder code.
I have happened, though rarely, to see some D-Mxxx on FR24 – and microlights are VFR only, by law.
Or someone should have botched up something.
I have happened, though rarely, to see some D-Mxxx on FR24 – and microlights are VFR only, by law.
Or someone should have botched up something.
Out of curiosity I randomly clicked on a few small aircraft symbols and after a couple of bizjets I found this one (somewhere near the Dutch-German border), squaking 7000 not even an assigned squawk and flying below 3000ft:
Aircraft(GLID)
Eiriavion PIK-20 D
I noticed earlier this year that FR24 started reporting FLARM traffic. I was shocked at just how many gliders were operating – they were like bees! Though there may have been a competition on. Right now I can see approximately 100 around the Oxford area.
In the UK at least, I’m fairly sure FR24 is not discriminating between IFR and VFR… or maybe there are some very poor instrument flyers out there judging by their flight path. I can currently see a SportCruiser over the Irish Sea – he can’t be on an IFR flight plan.
To the best of my knowledge, Mode-C targets are not received by any consumer Mode-S receivers. I think there might be some confusion because many Mode-S targets lack position information. To the lay person, they may think this is Mode-C. The receiver is not picking up a Mode-C transponder. It is simply the lack of GPS position data but the inclusion of the Mode-A squawk in the Mode-S data block.
In the UK at least, I’m fairly sure FR24 is not discriminating between IFR and VFR…
You’re right, I also see VFR traffic now located in The Netherlands. Even gliders!
But the RADAR for these VFR flights is not “T-MLAT” but something else, like “T-EHAM39”.
It’s an interesting point about VFR. Most of it will be at a very low level but I have done some VFR test flights to FL195 recently, around the middle of June.
Where you VFR this morning, Peter?
I got a notification and saw you on FR24 on (what seem to be) a local VFR flight around 5K ft…
Yes that was me 
I would have been on a 7000 squawk on most of that track.
They got the wrong pic of my plane though. Mine looks much nicer 
I just did a test ILS into Lydd, because there was some strange behaviour on the last one (Prague) and sure enough the GS is totally dead. So I quickly flew it as a LOC-only. It turns out to be the GS antenna, prob99 broken as they tend to be. The antenna assembly is made (hand-bodged) by some cowboy outfit in deepest France; I have a spare one at home from which half the stuff has already been cannibalised. So I am going to get a NAV to NAV+GS splitter and use the NAV antenna for the whole thing (apparently this is standard practice!) until the next Annual (not allowed to work in the hangar…). Who can sell me a CI507 splitter?
Nice flying weather!
You where on the T-MLAT radar (multilateral Mode-S) and on a non-VFR squawk. Only parts of the track were visible.
From my observation it looks like FR24 is showing VFR traffic via MLAT only if the SQK code is <> 7000.
