FAA Approves Request by 19-Year-Old to Continue Tracking Elon Musk's Jets Jack Sweeney has been battling with the billionaire about his Twitter account that tracks Musk's jets.
By Emily Rella Edited by Amanda Breen
The ongoing drama between Elon Musk and 19-year-old Jack Sweeney on Twitter seems to have reached new heights as Sweeney has now doubled down on receiving legal documentation to continue to track the activity of Musk's fleet of private jets.
Sweeney, who runs the Instagram account @ElonMuskJet (which tweets out the location of one of Musk's private jets each time it takes off and lands) was reportedly approached by the Tesla CEO over Twitter direct message and asked to remove the account for $5,000.
Sweeney refused the initial offer and went back and forth with the billionaire (even asking for a Tesla internship and $50,000) before Musk stopped responding.
Related: Elon Musk Reportedly Offered a 19-Year-Old $5,000 to Delete His Twitter Account
Now, Sweeney has revealed that he has filed a request to the Federal Aviation Association citing the the Freedom of Information Act to have permission to continue to track Musk's aircrafts.
The request, Sweeney Tweeted, has been approved.
"My FAA FOIA request went thru," Sweeney posted on his personal social-media account. "Now I have all the registration and airworthiness documents for all the SpaceX jets."
My FAA FOIA request went thru, Now I have all the registration and airworthiness documents for all the SpaceX jets. https://t.co/znXWAqCQ9T
— Jack Sweeney (@JxckSweeney) February 5, 2022
Sweeney also included a link out to airworthiness and registration documents for three separate jets.
Prior to his filing, the 19-year-old posted about his rights to continue to run the account and post the activity of Musk's jets, regardless of the billionaire's pleas to not do so.
Related: Elon Musk Calls Out 'Security Issue' With Accounts Posting His Travel Dates
"This account has every right to post jet whereabouts, ADS-B data is public, every aircraft in the world is required to have a transponder, Even AF1," the 19-year-old explained. "Twitter policy states data found on other sites is allowed to be shared here as well."
This account has every right to post jet whereabouts, ADS-B data is public, every aircraft in the world is required to have a transponder, Even AF1 (@AirForceTrack) Twitter policy states data found on other sites is allowed to be shared here as well. pic.twitter.com/Wol8O1DRiq
— Elon Musk's Jet (@ElonJet) January 18, 2022
Musk has not yet responded to the FAA's latest approval regarding the @Elonjet account.
"I knew [Musk] had the jet, and I just knew it would reveal what business is going on and where he is going and stuff," Sweeney told Business Insider. "I had the apps where you can track planes and stuff, I kind of thought they were cool."
The Tesla CEO had previously cited safety concerns with a different Twitter when a Tesla investor had begun posting Musk's travel plans.
"Going forward I won't be posting any reported travel plans for @elonmusk," entrepreneur and Tesla investor Sawyer Merrit wrote on the platform. "I would encourage others to do so too. I'm sure Elon doesn't want that stuff reported & at the end of the day, we want to keep Elon and his family safe."
Tesla was up 5.84% year over year as of Monday afternoon.
Related: Elon Musk Hints at Potential Future Acquisition of Major TV Network
