You have to have respect for Prince William. I can’t think of any other future Kings who work as ambulance drivers, albeit in a helicopter. And if this wasn’t enough of a headache for his security team, there’s now an app that allows you to track his chopper’s every movement.

The Daily Mail have exposed this massive security threat, and not surprisingly it’s been met with widespread outrage. As Roy Ramm, a former Commander of Specialist Operations at Scotland Yard and an ex-head of the Flying Squad told the Mail:

Knowing the precise movements, altitude and speed of an aircraft in flight is intelligence gold for any terrorist. The ability to track a high-profile target like this presents a really serious risk. Even without expensive and sophisticated weaponry, there is the real danger that an inexpensive drone could be used to put any aircraft flown by William at risk.

There is also the risk that a terrorist might simply open fire on his aircraft at low altitude with the kind of automatic weapon readily available to gangs in London. After all, the Prince is flying an air ambulance, not an armoured gunship.’

A reporter at the Daily Mail tried the app out, and the results are pretty frightening. Click HERE to see what happened.

It’s a bit embarrassing that the app creators, Flightradar24, have managed to get hold of such sensitive information. This from Ken Wharfe, Princess Di’s former personal protection officer:

It’s madness to have his flight details displayed in this way on an open website, and it should have been addressed long before now. 

Prince William is a target whether he likes it or not, and it just takes one nutter with a gun to act on this information and take a potshot. 

More generally, I would question the security risks of Prince William doing this job at all. It would be far preferable, if he’s determined to fly helicopters, to do so in the secure environment of an RAF base, where he could be an instructor, rather than attending road accidents on the streets of King’s Lynn.’

Flightradar24 have so far failed to comment on why or how they’ve done it, but one hopes they’ll be shut down pretty swiftly.

[source: The Daily Mail]