Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
My prior video on surveillance planes got a lot of comments, so I figured I should do a follow-up! In this one I checked out a couple electronic gadgets that can help identify surveillance aircraft.
If you're interested in the tech I used in this video, you can find the HackRF One here: amzn.to/3Ghd7v0
The hackable Orbic Hotspot is here: amzn.to/3I8J09x
(Sometimes there are cheaper ones on eBay)
And the Rayhunter firmware for the Orbic is here: eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/meet-rayhunter-new-open-source-tool-eff-detect-cellular-spying
Many of the comments from the last video were: "Aren't these planes just Google Earth / LIDAR / Aerial Photography / training flights / holding patterns?"
Flight paths for aerial mapping usually look like this:
aerialsurvey.com/news/day-in-the-life-of-a-survey-pilot
While training flights often look like this:
yeokhengmeng.com/2019/03/aviation-faq-from-my-friends/images/ppl-training-airspace-in-overlay.jpg
Holding patterns look like this: cnn.com/travel/airplane-holding-patterns-explainer
And surveillance flights usually look like this (note the near perfect circles, repeated for long periods of time):
flowingdata.com/2016/04/08/us-surveillance-flight-paths-for-the-fbi-and-homeland-security
oregonaviationwatch.org/articles/OAW-PDXPoliceSurveillance.php
Here are a few more news articles on this practice:
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/whats-spooky-about-fbis-fleet-spy-planes
foxnews.com/video/4270402545001
wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/fbis-low-flying-high-tech-surveillance
fox9.com/news/fbi-conducting-spy-flights-over-cities-including-minneapolis
cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/fbi-airplane-surveillance
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/fbi-releases-secret-spy-plane-footage-freddie-gray
Commenters also asked why the government uses manned aircraft instead of drones for things like this. I don't know the exact answer, but they do use both:
latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-fbi-using-drones-2006-20130926-story.html
You can buy some of these spy planes as government surplus! One is currently registered to the same DEA shell company as the one from my last video!
gsaauctions.gov/auctions/preview/331769
gsaauctions.gov/auctions/preview/331120
Saveitforparts t-shirts and other merch at saveitforparts.myspreadshop.com
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UCNLRcEn78Vc62C3GkMvBgtA/join
Or support me via Patreon at patreon.com/saveitforparts
Check out gadgets and devices I like at amazon.com/shop/saveitforparts
My prior video on surveillance planes got a lot of comments, so I figured I should do a follow-up! In this one I checked out a couple electronic gadgets that can help identify surveillance aircraft.
If you're interested in the tech I used in this video, you can find the HackRF One here: amzn.to/3Ghd7v0
The hackable Orbic Hotspot is here: amzn.to/3I8J09x
(Sometimes there are cheaper ones on eBay)
And the Rayhunter firmware for the Orbic is here: eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/meet-rayhunter-new-open-source-tool-eff-detect-cellular-spying
Many of the comments from the last video were: "Aren't these planes just Google Earth / LIDAR / Aerial Photography / training flights / holding patterns?"
Flight paths for aerial mapping usually look like this:
aerialsurvey.com/news/day-in-the-life-of-a-survey-pilot
While training flights often look like this:
yeokhengmeng.com/2019/03/aviation-faq-from-my-friends/images/ppl-training-airspace-in-overlay.jpg
Holding patterns look like this: cnn.com/travel/airplane-holding-patterns-explainer
And surveillance flights usually look like this (note the near perfect circles, repeated for long periods of time):
flowingdata.com/2016/04/08/us-surveillance-flight-paths-for-the-fbi-and-homeland-security
oregonaviationwatch.org/articles/OAW-PDXPoliceSurveillance.php
Here are a few more news articles on this practice:
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/whats-spooky-about-fbis-fleet-spy-planes
foxnews.com/video/4270402545001
wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/fbis-low-flying-high-tech-surveillance
fox9.com/news/fbi-conducting-spy-flights-over-cities-including-minneapolis
cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/fbi-airplane-surveillance
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/fbi-releases-secret-spy-plane-footage-freddie-gray
Commenters also asked why the government uses manned aircraft instead of drones for things like this. I don't know the exact answer, but they do use both:
latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-fbi-using-drones-2006-20130926-story.html
You can buy some of these spy planes as government surplus! One is currently registered to the same DEA shell company as the one from my last video!
gsaauctions.gov/auctions/preview/331769
gsaauctions.gov/auctions/preview/331120
Saveitforparts t-shirts and other merch at saveitforparts.myspreadshop.com
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UCNLRcEn78Vc62C3GkMvBgtA/join
Or support me via Patreon at patreon.com/saveitforparts
Check out gadgets and devices I like at amazon.com/shop/saveitforparts
