How Millions of People Watch Planes Fly: An Inside Look with Ian Petchenik

Ian Petchenik is a leading voice in civil aviation communication, known for making complex flight tracking and airline operations accessible to millions. He serves as Director of Communications for Flightradar24, the world’s most popular real-time flight tracking service, where he has played an instrumental role in growing the company’s global reach and community engagement over nearly a decade.

Ian also co-hosts the aviation podcast AvTalk, a weekly show that blends news, expert insights, and aviation culture for enthusiasts and professionals alike. Through his writing, broadcasting, and public engagements, he shares his lifelong passion for aviation, sparked by growing up next to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, with a global audience of pilots, industry insiders, and flight enthusiasts.

Ethan Romanov: SkyWest 5971 was diverted to Austin and declared emergency 7700. In these situations, what factors contribute to determining whether a diversion or continuing to the original destination is the best choice?

Ian Petchenik: Sure, a lot of factors go into whether or not an aircraft needs to divert. One obvious factor is how close you are to your intended destination. If something is happening close enough to the destination, you’re just going to go ahead and continue there. But if you’re not close, or if there are acceptable alternate airfields that are closer, you’re going to want to investigate whether diverting makes more sense. In this case, the issue became one of experiencing turbulence and then having to deal with severe weather at the intended destination, which is why we saw the diversion.

Ethan Romanov: Do you believe in the next 3-5 years, with how innovative the industry is, there will be some sort of technology developed and implemented to help mitigate or avoid these types of situations?

Ian Petchenik: Weather forecasting and real-time weather notifications are getting better and better every day. Interestingly enough, I think that broadband Wi-Fi aboard aircraft is actually going to be one of the most important aspects here. That’s because it allows crews to receive real-time weather radar imagery from a more holistic perspective, not just what they can see with their own onboard weather radar. That onboard radar is often limited depending on the aircraft, attenuation, and where it’s pointed. With broadband connectivity, a dispatcher can say, “Okay, there’s weather in this area,” and send real-time satellite data or real-time NEXRAD data directly to a pilot’s iPad without worrying about whether they’ll receive it. I think that’s going to be a major factor in making weather-related incidents fewer and fewer.

Ethan Romanov: You’ve spent many years communicating aviation events to a worldwide audience. In your opinion, what do you think the public most misunderstands when it comes to turbulence and why it happens?

Ian Petchenik: I’m not sure if it’s a misunderstanding or just not knowing, but I think there’s a general perception that turbulence involves dramatic drops of thousands of feet. The example I always give is to take a carbonated beverage, seltzer water, Coke, whatever, and slowly raise it and lower it. Nothing really happens. You can still open it without it exploding. But if you take that same can, hold it still, and shake it vigorously, then open it, you see what happens. So it’s not really the altitude drops, it’s the severity of the shaking within a certain altitude boundary. Certainly, there are instances where we see large altitude changes, but a lot of the time severe turbulence is very quick, with not much altitude change. It’s really about the G-forces involved.

Ethan Romanov: If Flightradar24 data was the only data available, what subtle patterns in a flight’s behavior would tell you that something serious is happening onboard the aircraft?

Ian Petchenik: The tricky thing is that we’re not always seeing huge swings in altitude data. ADS-B altitude is reported in 25-foot increments, so there’s a built-in margin of error. We don’t always get precise altitude values. However, vertical speed data is very telling. If an aircraft in cruise suddenly goes from zero feet per minute to 2,000, then to 8,000, then back up to 6,000 feet per minute, that’s a strong indication that something unusual, like severe turbulence, is happening.

Ethan Romanov: How do you think the evolution of real-time flight tracking and innovative technology like Flightradar24 has changed the aviation industry, both for professionals and the general public?

Ian Petchenik: For the general public, I think it’s opened up aviation in a much broader way than before. You didn’t really engage with aviation unless you were interested in it or traveling. But flight tracking gives people a moving map of the world and the skies above them. For the industry, real-time data has become critical. There are thousands of data points collected constantly, ADS-B, ACARS, engine monitoring data, and more. ADS-B data, in particular, gives operators real-time information that can be used for everything from tracking actual route miles to aircraft utilization rates. It’s really a treasure trove of data.

Ethan Romanov: Growing up near O’Hare and being around aviation your entire life, was there a specific moment that made you so interested you wanted to dedicate your career to it?

Ian Petchenik: No, there wasn’t a single deciding moment. It was more of a gradual slide into realizing this could be a career path. It started as a passion project, and then I discovered there was a company doing what I was already doing as a hobby, but as a career.

Ethan Romanov: What advice do you have for the younger generation of students who are interested in entering the aviation industry?

Ian Petchenik: It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to become a pilot, find a path that gets you flying without saddling you with long-term debt. There are more airline-led training programs now, and military aviation is another option. More broadly, if you’re interested in aviation, talk to people who are already doing what you want to do. Aviation is a global industry, but it’s also incredibly small; everyone knows everyone. People are generally happy to talk about their jobs, let you shadow them, or point you toward someone who can help. Internships are also extremely valuable. Careers are built on skill sets and knowing how to apply them, and internships are one of the best ways to figure that out.