Tag Archives: airplanes

One area (of several) in the info retrieval world of extra special interest to me is real time and near real time access to information. Some of the largest providers of this type of data are governments. I will plan to post on several of them throughout the month.

We will begin with near real info from the FAA. There are MANY sources of it but I’m going to focus on two. Additionally, some cost money. These two services are available at no charge.

I use both of the two services listed below. Each has its strengths. Both are worthy of your attention. It’s a case of which one works best for you.

+ Flight Aware
http://www.flightaware.com
Near real time info and historical info (free) for aircraft in the U.S./Canadian database.

Search by
Airline, Tail #, Airport. You can also access:
+ All flights in the air by airline
+ by aircraft model
+ others

Maps and pages that auto-refresh if you’re logged in to the service.

Examples:
Current Planes departing/arriving Boston’s Logan International.

Data for a specific flight also includes minute by minute lat/long, ground speed, altitude.

All planes in the air this minute, by fleet.

+ Flight Stats
http://www.flightstats.com/go/Home/home.do

Widgets for several sites, RSS feeds.

Mobile Site
http://mobile.flightstats.com/go/Mobile/
Note: Flightware.com works and looks OK on a mobile browser.

Historical ontime ratings (also on the FAA site)

Airport info

Maps

Airport delays (also on the FAA site)
http://www.flightstats.com/go/Airport/currentAirportDelays.do

Flight Status by Route, Flight, Airport, Alerts

Airports and airlines of the world lists

Hide or view codeshare flights.

Example (O’Hare Departures)