Noticed a big shift in how flight tracker forums talk about military planes

Tbh I’ve been browsing flight tracker communities for like 5 years now, and I’m seeing something different over the last 6 months. Before, people would post about seeing a C-130 or a fighter jet and everyone just kind of ignored it or called it routine. Now, every time someone spots a military plane, the thread fills up with people asking about transponder codes and potential training exercises. I’m talking like 50+ replies within an hour on some of these posts. I think it started after that big US military exercise over the Pacific got leaked on Reddit last fall. Suddenly normal hobbyists got hyper focused on what’s classified and what’s not. It feels less like a hobby and more like a watch group now. Has anyone else noticed this change in their local forums too?

3 comments

3 Comments

seth6831mo ago

Everything feels like a watch group now, even grocery store dashcam videos.

rileyp4919d agoMost Upvoted

Man it's like everyone's looking for suspicious stuff in their daily errands now.

finleyh891mo ago

Yeah I've seen the same thing. Best thing I did was just start ignoring the military posts altogether, scroll right past them. Focus on the civil aviation threads where people are still just happy to see a 747 or whatever, way more chill.