Pelosi in Taiwan: How SPAR19 became the most tracked flight of all time

Taipei

As US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's US Air Force plane SPAR19 touched down in Taiwan, it became the most tracked active flight of all time.

The SPAR19 US Air Force plane made its journey from  Kuala Lumpur's Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB) to Songshan Airport (TSA) in Taipei covering nearly 2,000 miles and was reportedly tracked by over 708,000 people around the world.

Flight radar data showed during the seven-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei a total of 2.92 million people followed at least a portion of the flight.

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The US had earlier played down Pelosi's visit but reports suddenly claimed the US House Speaker was headed to Taiwan as Pelosi and her delegation left Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday and then flew east toward Borneo on a route while skirting the contentious South China Sea.

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According to Flightradar24, the SPAR19 flight to Taipei was tracked live by 300,000 users online. Taiwanese fighter jets escorted Pelosi's plane during the final leg of the journey as China began its military exercise in the region close to Taiwan.

SPAR 19 plane: Features

According to reports, the SPAR19 is a modified Boeing 737 now called Boeing C-40C. It provides safe transportation to US leaders worldwide and carries US Cabinet and Congress leaders. The body of the aircraft is based on a commercial Boeing 737-700 business jet and it has an integrated GPS and flight management system onboard.

The plane has a rest area including sleep accommodation with business class seating and worktables and is known as an "office in the sky".

(With Agency inputs)

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