**The land is burning.** From the plains of Kansas and Iowa to the forests of North Dakota and Minnesota, our communities—and our national food supply—are under threat. But while the smoke rises, something else is happening in the air.
Many of us have noticed unusual flight patterns over sensitive areas like the **White Earth** and **Leech Lake** Reservations. When private university planes and “untraceable” aircraft circle active fire zones under the cover of darkness, we have a right to ask: **Why?**
If we want to protect our land and our future, we need a community of watchdogs. We aren’t just bystanders; we are witnesses. Here is how you can help monitor the situation and document what’s happening in real-time.
### **1. Track the Patterns in Real-Time**
You don’t need a radar dish to see what’s flying overhead. Use these open-source tools to identify aircraft:
* **FlightRadar24:** The gold standard for real-time tracking. Use the “Playback” feature to go back in time and see if flight records are being altered or removed.
* **ADS-B Exchange:** Unlike other sites, ADS-B Exchange does not filter out “blocked” or private aircraft. If a plane is trying to fly “dark,” this is often where you can still find it.
* **Look for “Grid” Patterns:** Official survey and firefighting planes fly in specific back-and-forth “mowing the lawn” patterns. Anything that deviates from this—or circles aimlessly over hotspots—needs to be documented.
### **2. Match the Fire to the Flight**
To see if planes are targeting specific areas, overlay flight data with live fire maps:
* **NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System):** This tool shows satellite-detected “hotspots” within 3 hours of observation.
* **InciWeb:** Check the official status of fires. If a plane is circling a “new” fire that hasn’t been reported on InciWeb yet, that is a red flag.
### **3. Document Everything**
A screenshot is worth a thousand words. If you see something suspicious:
* **Capture the Tail Number (N-Number):** If available, this is the aircraft’s “license plate.”
* **Note the Altitude:** Most firefighting or legitimate surveillance happens at specific, regulated altitudes.
* **Log the Time and Location:** Be precise about which reservation or town the activity is over.
### **4. Why This Matters**
When institutions like **UND Aerospace** or private contractors operate over sensitive areas, there should be full transparency. Our food supply and our indigenous lands are too important to leave to “untraceable” maneuvers.
**Knowledge is our best defense.** When we all watch together, it becomes much harder for things to happen “under cover of darkness.”
### **CALL TO ACTION**
Are you seeing strange flight paths over your area tonight? **Post your screenshots in the comments or share them with the hashtag #EyesOnTheSkies.** **Stay alert. Stay loud. Protect the land.**
### **Watchdog Resources:**
* FlightRadar24
* ADS-B Exchange
* NASA FIRMS Map
We have added a section specifically about how to research the owners of the private planes once a tail number is identified.

Here is an additional section you can help our readers dig deeper into the identity of the aircraft they are tracking.
### **How to Identify the “Invisible” Owners**
Seeing a plane on a map is only the first step. To truly hold these operations accountable, we need to know who is behind the controls. Most aircraft in the U.S. carry a “license plate” known as an **N-Number** (or tail number).
#### **1. The FAA Registry (The Primary Source)**
Every aircraft registered in the United States is listed in the **FAA Aircraft Registration Inquiry** database.
* **How to search:** Go to registry.faa.gov.
* **The Pro-Tip:** When searching, **do not include the ‘N’**. If the tail number is N12345, just type “12345.”
* **What you’ll find:** This will give you the name of the registered owner, their address, and the specific type of aircraft.
#### **2. Peeling Back Corporate Layers**
Often, suspicious planes are registered to an LLC (Limited Liability Company) or a “Trust” to hide the true owner. If the FAA shows a name like *”Alpha-Bravo Holdings LLC,”* don’t stop there:
* **Secretary of State Search:** Go to the Secretary of State website for the state listed in the FAA address. Search for that LLC name to see who the “Registered Agent” or “Manager” is.
* **OpenCorporates:** Use OpenCorporates.com to see if that company is linked to other businesses or individuals.
#### **3. Tracking “Blocked” Aircraft**
Some owners pay to have their tail numbers hidden from popular sites like FlightRadar24. This is a red flag for watchdogs.
* **Use ADS-B Exchange:** This site is community-run and **does not filter out blocked aircraft**. If a plane is invisible on other apps, it will often still show up here.
* **Check the Serial Number:** If you can’t find the tail number but have the “Hex Code” (a series of letters and numbers from the tracking site), you can often trace that back to the original registration.
#### **4. Identifying Flight Schools & Contractors**
If the owner is listed as **UND Aerospace** or a private contractor like **Dynamic Aviation** or **Bridger Aerospace**, take note of the duration they spend over fire zones. Are they performing standard maneuvers, or are they loitering in ways that don’t match official firefighting procedures?
### **Important Safety Note for Watchdogs**
* **Stay Legal:** All of this information is **public record**. You have every right to access it and share it.
* **Stay Focused:** The goal is transparency. Focus on documenting the *facts*: times, tail numbers, and coordinates. The more precise our data, the harder it is for them to ignore us.
**Is there anything else appearing on your maps tonight that we should include a tracking guide for?**