Track flights live: flight trackers & radar

Reading arrivals and departures boards: how to plan your spotting day

The airport board is more than a list for passengers. If you filter out codeshares, spot the waves and combine the board with a flight tracker and wind, you can plan your spotting day in half an hour.

ADS-B Exchange explained: unfiltered flight tracking for spotters

ADS-B Exchange is the map spotters open when a tanker, a government jet or a bizjet is missing on the big flight tracker services. What is behind the service, how to use the interface properly and what stays invisible even here.

Arrival time on flight trackers: how accurate is the ETA for spotting?

The arrival time on a flight tracker is an estimate that gets more accurate with every phase of flight. What it really means, where it is off and how much buffer to plan at the spot.

Tracking delivery and ferry flights: how to catch ferry flights

New jets on their way to the airline, lease returns and aircraft heading for the desert: how to recognize ferry flights on the radar, where they come from and how to get them in front of your lens on purpose.

Callsign vs. flight number: what’s the difference?

Your ticket says LH 1, the live map shows DLH1, and on the radio you hear “Lufthansa One.” How flight numbers and callsigns relate, why some callsigns carry letters and what that means for your search at the spot.

Spotting a diversion live: turning alternate landings into a spotter opportunity

Holding patterns, fog at the destination, a course change on the live map: how to recognize a diversion early, estimate where the aircraft lands and use the alternate landing as a spotter opportunity – with consideration.

FlightAware guide: flight search, history, alerts and how it differs from Flightradar24

FlightAware is more than a second opinion next to Flightradar24: schedules, airport pages, registration history and alerts make the service from Houston a strong planning tool for spotters – if you know its quirks.

Flightradar24 subscription: Silver, Gold or Business – what is worth it for spotters?

Flight history, alerts, weather layers, fleet view: we sort the Flightradar24 subscriptions from a spotter’s point of view, show which tier suits which type of spotter and when your own receiver is the better choice.

Flightradar24 guide: map, filters, details and playback for spotters

From your first tap on an aircraft icon to Global Playback: how to get what you really need at the fence out of Flightradar24 – filters, registration search, airport view and history.

Looking up flight history: finding an aircraft’s past flights and routes

Where was this registration last week, which route did the special livery fly yesterday? Here is how to look up an aircraft’s flight history – with playback, the right search terms and an overview of how far back each service reaches.

Reading flight tracker maps: symbols, colors and data fields explained

Yellow icons, colorful trails, abbreviations like GS, Baro Alt or MLAT: what flight tracker maps actually show you, how to interpret colors and symbols correctly and which data fields really count at the spot.

Flight tracking for spotters: using ADS-B, Flightradar and more

The live map shows the approach, but where does the data actually come from? What is behind ADS-B, MLAT and satellite reception, where the limits are and how to use flight tracking services at the spot.

Setting up aircraft alerts: notifications for registrations, types and airlines

Push instead of constant refreshing: how to set up notifications for a specific aircraft, a type or an airline – with Flightradar24, FlightAware and community tools like Plane-Alert.

Tracking an aircraft by registration: how to find any airframe

Flight numbers change, while registration and hex code stay with the aircraft. How to find a specific airframe on the big flight tracking services, read its history, spot patterns and be at the spot in time.

Finding helicopters on a flight tracker: follow rescue, police and offshore live

The yellow H145 thumps over your roof, yet the flight tracker app stays empty. Why helicopters are so often invisible, how to find air rescue, police and offshore traffic anyway, and where the limits of following along lie.

Tracking military aircraft online: what you can see and where it ends

Tankers, transports and AWACS show up on flight tracker maps regularly, fighter jets often don’t. Why that is, which tools show everything unfiltered and how to put military flights in context.

MLAT explained: how aircraft without an ADS-B position get located

Not every aircraft transmits its position. With multilateration, receiver networks work it out anyway – from tiny time differences on reception. Principle, requirements and limits at a glance.

Transponder modes A, C and S explained: what an aircraft transmits and why it matters for tracking

Mode A delivers the squawk, Mode C the altitude, Mode S a unique address and lots of extra data. How the modes fit together and what they mean for flight trackers and spotters.

Satellite ADS-B explained: how flights over oceans and the poles become visible

Ground receivers end at the coast, satellites don’t. How space-based ADS-B works, who runs it, what it changed for air traffic control over the North Atlantic and what you as a spotter see of it on the map.

Squawk codes 7500, 7600 and 7700: what the emergency codes really mean

A flight suddenly lights up on the live map with 7700. What lies behind the three emergency codes, which rules apply to crews, why many cases are more harmless than they seem and how spotters handle them – and how they should not.

How to spot test flights, factory flights and first flights on the radar

No flight plan, no destination, just loops over the North Sea: here is how to spot factory, acceptance and first flights from Airbus and Boeing on flight radar – with callsigns, test registrations and typical flight patterns.

How to spot holding patterns on a flight tracker: reading holdings like a pro

Oval loops, stacked altitudes, falling speed: learn to spot holding patterns on a flight tracker, understand why they happen and plan your spotting day around them.

Why an aircraft doesn’t show up on Flightradar: the most common reasons

You hear the jet, you even see it – but the flight tracker app stays empty. Filtered data, privacy programs, coverage gaps, military traffic and missing equipment: the causes at a glance and how to tell them apart at the spot.