FL Teen Who Tracked Musk’s Private Jets On Twitter Targets Russian Oligarchs, Putin

FLORIDA — A 19-year-old attending the University of Central Florida launched a Twitter account tracking the movement of Russian oligarchs on their private jets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week.

Among those student Jack Sweeney is tracking through his account Russian Oligarch Jets (@RUOligarchJets) are former scientist Alexander Abramov, industrialist Oleg Deripaska, former First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Potanin and Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of the Chelsea Football Club in England.

Under the umbrella of his “Ground Control” initiative, Sweeney has also launched the Twitter account Russian VIP & Putin Jets (@PutinJet) to track all Russian VIP jets, as well as any aircraft being used by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion of Ukraine.

“The aircrafts these oligarchs have are absolutely crazy,” the teen told Bloomberg. “Their planes are huge compared to other jets.”

They typically use planes such as an Airbus A319 and Boeing 737, he said.

On his personal Twitter account, Sweeney warned that while @PutinJet is live, “don't expect this to be too accurate though there are a dozen VIP Russian planes, and ADS-B coverage isn't great in Russia.”

He runs 15 flight-tracking Twitter accounts using a bot he created to automatically post whenever a flight leaves or lands at an airport, according to The Hill. He uses public information available through the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast.

Sweeney recently made headlines for tracking the jets of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, using the account Elon Musk’s Jet (@ElonJet).

Musk offered him $5,000 to shut down the Twitter account tracking his private flights. The student didn’t accept, making a counteroffer.

“Any chance to up that to $50K?" Sweeney asked, according to The Hill. "It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3.”

Through his website, Sweeney is currently selling stickers and T-shirts that read “I Know How High Elon Is.”