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Tracking cameras on civilian passenger plane seems like a whole lot extra stuff for operator to maintain and service compared to the benefit of capturing an UFO pictures once every few months.

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Because that would make a civillian passenger transport indistinguishable from a recon asset.

You know what happens to recon assets that frequent hostile airspace, don't you? There are legitimate reasons to not build functionality into something.

I think this is a bit of a stretch. I’ve been on a few transatlantic flights that had live camera feeds under the plane that you could tune into as a regular station on the tv. I’d wager they’re more common on commercial flights than you think.

Emirates B777s and A380s do this too. Especially the A380s that stream 3 different cameras (tail, below, front). I don’t think they record the feeds though, maybe that makes a difference? But yeah seems odd to me that recording video makes it a military asset... how many millions of passengers on commercial planes have recorded the view out their window etc.

No it wouldn't. A recon plane would be pointing mostly at the ground rather than in front of above the plane. And you're assuming international flights, whereas there is abundant domestic air traffic in the US that never leaves the country.

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