For what appears to be an entire sortie, a Canadian warplane broadcast its flight location while flying over so-called Islamic State (IS) controlled territory.

The revelation regarding a refueling plane flying as part of Operation IMPACT in Iraq, comes from civilian website Flightradar24.com — a collective of thousands of volunteer antenna networks all over the world streamlining location data of planes using something called automatic dependent surveillance-broadcasts (ADS-B).

ADS-B capability is an air traffic control technology which, in a sense, replaces ground control radars. Instead of relying on ground radars to locate and identify aircraft, planes with ADS-B transmit information about their identity, location, and velocity. Both civilian and military aircraft all over the world now use ADS-B. And, occasionally, military planes will forget to turn off their ADS-B transponders, exposing both their GPS-location to the public and giving potential threat actors the chance to identify them.

That was the case for the plane nicknamed "HOSER 15" by aviation enthusiasts monitoring Flightradar24 online that identified a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) A310-CC-150 in the skies of Iraq as it flew overtop of parts of IS controlled territory.

Polaris CC-150 aircraft are strategic air-to-air refuelers for Canada's CF-18 Hornet fleet currently carrying out a bombing campaign against IS targets all over Iraq and Syria.

The Canadian Department of National Defense confirmed to VICE News the incident was indeed a mistake by pilots — which, theoretically, could've allowed IS forces to identify them in the sky and fire on the warplane.

Strategically, the mistake can also prepare an adversary for your next move: the very presence of a refueling plane in the sky can alert the enemy, like IS, that airstrikes are inbound, given that they refuel F-18 strike aircraft.

"In this particular instance, the aircrew mistakenly selected the wrong transponder mode," said Captain Kirk Sullivan a public affairs officer with the Canadian military. "They have been made aware of this and corrective action has been taken. In this instance, it is assessed that the aircraft and crew were not exposed to additional threat."

Sullivan would not elaborate on whether or not the warplane was exposed to IS anti-aircraft capabilities.

"To ensure mission success and for the safety of CAF personnel, no additional information will be provided at this time," said Sullivan to detailed questions VICE News pressed on the incident.

No coalition aircraft since the Jordanian pilot incident have been shot down by IS forces, but the terrorist organization currently controlling large swaths of Iraq and Syria is constantly inheriting new war technologies from American weapon stockpiles left to Iraqi forces after the 2013 withdrawal.

Nonetheless, it is not immediately clear whether IS antiaircraft weapons are capable of shooting down a CC-150, let alone the almost zero percent chance of it mounting its own air force, but there is some evidence claiming they possess both the firepower to down helicopters as well as Western planes carrying out airstrikes against them.

Canadian pilots are not the only ones guilty of the ADS-B mistake, either. During the bombing campaign against Muammar Gaddafi forces in March 2011, American planes in Libya were identified mid-air as well as other incidents in Afghanistan and Syria.

The revelation of the transponder mishap comes on the heels of allegations another RCAF bombing mission northwest of the Iraqi town of Mosul is allegedly responsible for the deaths of up to 27 Iraqi civilians. That claim has been denied by the Canadian government.