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Ian Servin

Ian Servin

@airplaneian.com

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Emergency management, aviation and everything else.

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Contrail: Building an ATproto lexicon for aviation

I recently returned from a mostly offline trip and was catching up on some digital tinkering when I decided to add AT Protocol publishing to this blog and subsequently fell down a bit of a rabbit hole. As someone who's been extremely online since I was around eleven, I've always been interested in protocols and...

AviationPersonal updates

Quantifying the impact of the Linus Tech Tips “Gamer Jet”

Recently the tech YouTuber Linus Sebastian (Linus Tech Tips) bought a private jet and naturally this has unleashed a torrent of hot takes from fans and haters alike. The arguments mostly boil down to whether or not the emissions and subsequent impact on the environment are unreasonable or justifiable. Of course, the arguments are pretty...

Personal updates

Why the FAA’s ICE Drone Ban is Legally Indefensible

A close reading of the statutes behind the NOTAM that grounded journalists over Minneapolis. In January 2026, the FAA expanded a national security NOTAM to cover DHS and CBP mobile assets, effectively creating a no-fly zone around ICE vehicles operating in Minneapolis and elsewhere. Drone operators faced the threat of civil and criminal penalties for...

Building a Tweetdeck-style interface for LiveATC feeds

If you're an aviation nerd, you know how powerful ADS-B and flight tracking sites can be. However, ADS-B does have its limitations. In some situations, we have to turn to other methods to track, identify and characterize operations of non ADS-B out targets. ACARS is one potential path for gaining information we can't get from...

Project SkyWatch (AKA Wescam at home)

Professional aviation surveillance relies on a specific piece of hardware: the EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infra-Red) gimbal. These are the gyro-stabilized turrets you see on the nose of police helicopters or military drones, capable of keeping a rock-solid lock on a target regardless of how the aircraft maneuvers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOUuxITR4eA I wanted to replicate this capability to help track...

Building an affordable local news multiviewer with the HDHomeRun Flex 4K

One of my favorite parts of an Emergency Operations Center is the wall of screens up front that provide all sorts of situational awareness information. Typically at least one screen is dedicated to monitoring local or national news. Typically these displays are managed by expensive and complex AV setups, installed by professional vendors. For my...

Emergency Management

Flight tracking 101: How to track airplanes from first principles

The world of flight tracking is in the spotlight after Elon Musk had a meltdown about automated flight tracker accounts, specifically one run by college student Jack Sweeney that tracked Elon's private jets. Elon and Twitter blocked hundreds of automated and human accounts (including mine!) that had recently tweeted about flight tracking. While these permanent...

aviationAviation

How to use video (strategically) for case studies

Case studies are often viewed as siloed deliverables, one-off projects that result in one or two high value deliverables. While in some cases, that may be acceptable, the reality is a single production opportunity can do so much more. In fact, video case studies can form the foundation of an entire content marketing strategy, providing...

Business StrategyContent Marketing

Wave Link – First Time Setup for macOS

Howdy, some quick context up top: this is a setup guide for the Elgato Wave Link software. Unfortunately, right now Elgato is missing a lot of Mac-specific documentation and it's caused some frustration for me so I wrote this up based on their existing Windows articles. I hope it helps other Mac users using Elgato's...

Audio for videolive streaming

How to use video (strategically) for event marketing

Video can help amplify your event beyond the four walls of the venue. From capturing the content of the event to capturing the feeling of the event, video is an invaluable part of a modern event marketing strategy.

Content MarketingContent strategy

PDF Archive – Instrument Planning from the August 19, 1937 Issue of Flight

A friend was doing some research into instrument flying and needed to locate a key text on the subject. This article from a 1937 issue on Flight is heavily cited in academic texts, but as of several years ago is not available online because the parent organization's archive went dark during a site upgrade in 2019 and hasn't reemerged. London-based Flight International has also been through an acquisition (DVV Media Group out of Germany) so finding the right person to talk to was tricky. Because it's so difficult to find this text and it seems to be so widely cited, I wanted to publish it here to make sure that other folks would have an easier time locating the text.

Photos: Minotaur Rocket Launch

Photos from the NROL-129 mission launch using the Northrup Grumman Minotaur rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Digital Marketing allows you to show your customers what your business is made of and how you can help them with their needs, for that reason if you have business is...

AviationPersonal updates