A false traffic icon that is close to your GPS position is typically your own aircraft being received via ADS-B In but not suppressed from view because ownship detection is not occurring.
For background, ADS-B receivers detect traffic from individual aircraft broadcasting via ADS-B Out (air-to-air), or from a ground station’s “Traffic Information Services - Broadcast” (TIS-B).
Your ADS-B In receiver can detect your own aircraft as a traffic target if you are ADS-B Out equipped or if you are not ADS-B Out equipped, but your Mode C traffic information is broadcast by a ground station.
Under normal circumstances, ForeFlight receives your aircraft’s traffic target via ADS-B In and compares it to your GPS position. If the two are in close enough proximity, ForeFlight’s proximity detection logic will hide your traffic target, and ownship detection will occur. A false traffic icon remains in view when ownship detection fails.
For ADS-B Out equipped aircraft, ownship detection can fail because:
- The aircraft fails to broadcast ADS-B compliant data.
- Poor GPS accuracy is received in ForeFlight.
- A ground radar target can't be reconciled with an ADS-B target because of maneuvering, aerobatics, or radar error.
- The ground station fusion server is not working.
To determine the source of the error, tap the ghost traffic icon to determine if the traffic target is being received directly (ADS-B) or from a ground station (TIS-B). If the traffic target is TIS-B traffic, get an ADS-B Performance Report for your aircraft to determine if the ADS-B Out setup is performing properly:
Public ADS-B Performance Report Request
If the report shows errors, contact an avionics professional to correct those errors.
If your compliance report shows that your system has no errors, then you can report the problem to the FAA for further investigation by using this form:
ADS-B / TIS-B / FIS-B Problem Report
If the source data for the target shows ADS-B, contact team@foreflight.com.
For Non-ADS-B Out equipped aircraft, the failure to detect ownship relates to the difference between your GPS position and your aircraft’s traffic position as broadcast by the ground station exceeding ForeFlights proximity detection logic limits. There is nothing that can be done to correct this.
Related Article: What does "ownship" mean in ForeFlight Mobile?
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