Why can't I find a flight on flightradar24. How flightradar24 works

Hello again everyone. Surely many of us use the services of various airlines. We make business trips, visit our relatives, friends, friends and acquaintances fly to us. After all, by plane you can get to your destination faster than by any other mode of transport.

Suppose your relatives should fly to you from another part of our Motherland. How to track an airplane flight in real time? The service we will talk about today will help us with this.

This is a service - Flightradar24. Thanks to it, you will find out which flights depart and arrive at your airport, track the path of any aircraft, find out its speed, route, distance, departure and landing times.

Let's get to know him better. Go to the main page of the service at https://www.flightradar24.com

The service automatically detects your location and you can select your airport. Aircraft that fly over your territory will also be indicated. By choosing any aircraft, you will find out detailed information about him, the flight, etc. Which one? See below. Using the mouse wheel you can zoom in and out of the area. This way you can track the plane anywhere in the world.

So, we choose our airport.

We will see information about arriving and departing flights.

The local airport time, weather, and wind strength will be indicated at the top.

Arrivals- the nearest flights that Irkutsk Airport will accept are indicated. Here you will find out the time of arrival, the flight number, where from, the name of the airline, the make of the aircraft, its registration number and its status.

Departures- this tab will display flights departing from this airport.

On ground- ships that are on the ground and have landed will be shown here.

For ease of working with the service, make a language. This will help you more or less figure out what's what.

Go to the tab " Arrival" According to the current time, the next flight arrives from Ulaanbaatar. But for some reason it cannot be tracked where it is located in this moment. But we can fly from Khabarovsk. In the Status column it is set to Estimated) arrival time 22:33. And next to it is a black arrow. Click on it and the flight and data about it will be shown.

To close information about this airport, click the cross in the upper right corner.

On the left we see 3 blocks with information.

1 - flight status. The flight route, departure and arrival times are indicated here; total, traveled and remaining distance.

2 - aircraft details. This block displays information about aircraft. Model, registration number, serial number, age. Some data is hidden under the padlock icon. This means that the data is available in the paid version. You can learn more about tariff plans on this page - https://www.flightradar24.com/premium

3 - flight information. Indicate the longitude, latitude of the flight, speed (in knots), altitude in feet.

Just below there are 2 buttons.

Number 4 in the screenshot - when you click on it, the scale decreases and the full path of the aircraft is shown: from the place of departure to the place of arrival.

To return to the previous mode, press the button again. Nearby, to the right of it, there is a button that directs our attention to the plane. All ships move on the map in real time.

The most interesting feature of this service is that you can watch the liner in 3D mode. To switch to this mode, press the " 3 D"(see screenshot 3). The mode will load and you will see the aircraft in 3D mode. You can watch it in real time: where and how it flies.

Using the left mouse button you can rotate the viewing angle from different sides. If you press the right button and, without releasing it, move the mouse itself up and down, you can change the scale of the aircraft. You can even feel like the pilot of this ship by going to the pilot view by clicking on the corresponding icon in the right panel. At the same time, the camera does not change its viewing angle. To determine the location of the airliner, there is a map that will tell you exactly where the aircraft is flying.

To exit 3D mode, simply click the cross in the upper right corner.

If you like the service, you can use the application for various devices. To select the desired application, go to the menu item " Programs» and select the desired application.

Thanks to this service, you can always track the plane in real time and arrive at the airport on time to meet your friends, acquaintances, and relatives.

That's all for today. Have a nice weekend everyone and good luck!

He who can manage a woman can also manage the state.

There are many sites dedicated to online tracking - thanks to them you can track flights in real time. This is very convenient because it allows you to find out with great accuracy exactly where the aircraft you are interested in is located.

How to track a plane online?

Among this kind of resources, Flightradar24 (Flightradar) deserves special attention, which in the form interactive map shows the location of any aircraft. All flights are tracked with an accuracy of a few minutes.

So now it won’t be difficult to find out exactly where the plane of relatives or friends is. Moreover, the resource will also be useful for those who travel frequently. Using a mobile application with a fairly convenient interface, the passenger will be able to determine where the plane is, which is very useful if the flight is delayed or during the flight you want to find out if there is a delay behind the schedule.

Using the Flightradar24 website is very easy. To find the aircraft you need, just enter the flight number in the search field. You can also select any icon you like and click on it - then you can see what the route has already been taken. In addition, detailed information about the flight will be displayed in a special column on the left - for example, aircraft model, speed, altitude, etc.

Data is updated once a minute, so all information is fresh and relevant. However, due to some technical difficulties, it may arrive with a delay of 5 minutes - such aircraft are specially marked in orange on the map.

Finally, the Flightradar24 database contains information not only about flights, but also about airports in many countries, and also provides the ability to track all flights of a particular airline. In general, this is not only a useful, but also an entertaining site - if only because you can look at fire, water and how airplane figures move around the map for a very long time.

Where to look for low-cost airline tickets?

To find tickets for flights of most airlines in the world, you can use the search form posted or use the Tripmydream metasearch

There is no better service for searching for low-cost airline tickets than Kiwi.com. Try it and see for yourself!

Where to book cheap hotels?

The most convenient way to book hotels is through Hotels Combined - a service where you can compare prices from different suppliers. Or through the good old

They say that traveling by plane is much safer than by car. Perhaps this is really true, at least if planes collide with each other in the sky, it happens very rarely. However, someone who looks at maps from a specialized Internet service may lose confidence in the safety of air travel. This original resource clearly demonstrates how many civil airliners are currently in the sky and where they are flying.

It shows the flight direction, speed, altitude, local time, temperature outside and a bunch of other parameters, however, most of which are only available in the premium version. But the most important thing is that all this is displayed in real time.

When you zoom in on the map of the area with your mouse wheel, you will see that the planes are moving, literally flying above the ground. To view information about a specific flight, you need to click on the airplane figurine with the mouse. In this case, on the left side of the web page will immediately appear information panel with various information, such as: points of departure and destination, their local time , type and registration number liner, the distance he has traveled, altitude and flight speed, current latitude and longitude And some other information.

In the upper right corner of the web page there is a button in the form of a gear, by clicking on which you can open a settings panel that allows you to set units of measurement that are more familiar to you, for example, replace miles by kilometers . There you can set many other display parameters, in particular, change the map type. Several modes are supported: Earth, Satellite, Road map, Hybrid and light and dark Radar.

Users with the plugin installed Google Earth In addition, they can also switch to 3Dmode. There is also various additional information about the weather, cloudiness, ocean currents and more, but to access them you would have to subscribe. By the way, its cost is only 1.99 euro per month, provided that you apply for it a year in advance. There is a small restriction on the free use of the service: you can only monitor the movement of aircraft 30 minutes To continue monitoring, you will have to reload the page.

Probably everyone who has ever met or seen off relatives or friends on a plane has used free service Flightradar24. This is a very convenient way to track the aircraft's position in real time.

As a survey of friends showed, very few people know that this service is supported only by enthusiasts who send data to the server. Even fewer know that anyone can join the project.

Let's fill this gap. We’ll continue below the cut on how it works.

Iron

The very first question is where the data comes from.

Each civilian aircraft is equipped with a special transmitter, the so-called ADS-B transponder:


(photo from Garmin website)

This device sends special messages at a frequency of 1090 MHz containing basic flight parameters, type of aircraft, its coordinates, destination, etc.

The signal on the spectrum looks something like this:

And what is most important for us is that decoding this data is not difficult; an RTL-SDR receiver, costing about $8, connected to a computer is enough. Actually, the idea is probably already clear - if we collect data from many receivers, we will get a picture something like this:

But that's not all. Some aircraft transmit data packets, but they do not contain GPS coordinates. If you receive data simultaneously from many receivers, the coordinates of which are known, then by analyzing the delays at different receivers, you can find out the location of the aircraft. This technology is called multilateration (MLAT), you can read more about it on the website.

And finally, the last question is how the data is received. The answer is simple, anyone can host a receiver, the price ranges from $0 to $50. For example, this is what the Flightaware service receiver map looks like:

As you can see, the coverage of the Russian part leaves much to be desired, so some have a good chance of being first.

To receive data you need:

Raspberry Pi2/3 with connected Internet (price from $20)
- RTL-SDR dongle (price from $10)
- at least a simple antenna consisting of 2 pieces of wire, each 6.8 cm long (1/4 dipole at 1090 MHz)

It is also desirable to have a place with a more or less open view of at least part of the sky, because... Gigahertz frequency signals are absorbed by obstacles such as houses or trees.

I already had both the Raspberry Pi and the RTL-SDR, so I didn’t have to buy anything. But anyone can try to get a ready-made receiver for free - both Flightradar and Flightaware are sending kits free to users in areas where coverage is currently insufficient. You can send a request via the link (Flightradar or Flightaware), of course, it is advisable to try it for those who live in a fairly remote area.

I used a kit of RTL-SDR V3, which together with an antenna and a mini tripod cost $27 with free shipping from China:

By the way, as a second bonus, both Flightradar24 and Flightaware provide everyone who sends data to the server unlimited access to premium account and all server functions (separately, such access costs about $50/month). So if someone is interested in aviation and wants to have extended access to such an account, installing an RTLSDR receiver is a very cheap alternative.

Testing

Installation is extremely simple; on the Raspberry Pi you just need to connect the receiver and run one command:

Sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - http://repo.feed.flightradar24.com/install_fr24_rpi.sh)"
The script will request the necessary data (coordinates and type of receiver, email address), then the software will work automatically, no longer requiring user attention. At the same time, you can activate a premium account (for FR24 via the link https://www.flightradar24.com/premium/signup?account=free) and immediately use all its features (flight tracks, etc.).

You can go to the Raspberry Pi IP address page and see the current status:


Much more information can be seen on the Flightradar24 account page:

I live on the 6th floor relatively close to the airport, so the number of aircraft observed per day was more than 1000, even with a simple antenna on the windowsill. Interestingly, even with such an antenna, the maximum range to the received aircraft was 215 miles. Different antenna options can be found on ebay by searching for ads-b antenna.

Alternative

Bonus for those who had the patience to read this far. Some readers may have a question: is it possible to do without third-party services like Flightradar? Of course you can, you can run the decoder on the Raspberry Pi directly. You can download the sources at github.com/antirez/dump1090.

It is enough to type 3 commands on the Raspberry Pi:

Git clone https://github.com/antirez/dump1090.git cd dump1090/ make
The decoder can then be launched with the command:

./dump1090 --interactive --net
The decoder starts working, and we see the “raw data” - a list of visible “boards”:

Now you can go to the Raspberry Pi with a browser and admire your own, local Flightradar, the picture may look something like this:

Why might this be necessary? Firstly, just out of interest, and secondly, Flightradar24, unfortunately, filters some of the data and shows Not all aircraft (for example, military, government, or business jets may not be shown). By launching our own local service, we see everything “as is”, without any censorship. But, of course, the amount of data is limited by our local location and the quality of the antenna, and MLAT technology will not be available. Dump1090 is available in source code, so anyone can even create their own version of Flightradar, with blackjack and other bells and whistles.

conclusions

As you can see, everything is not so complicated, but it is quite interesting and inexpensive. To understand the price range: 10 years ago the Airnav RadarBox receiver cost about $1000, now an RTL-SDR, which does the same thing, can be purchased for $10.

In my case, the receiver was launched only for testing; there is no practical sense in keeping it constantly switched on; the coverage density of the European part already reaches 100%. For residents of the Russian outback, on the contrary, this can be quite interesting - there is an opportunity to both do something useful for air travelers around the world, expanding the coverage area, and gain access to the Premium account of the above-mentioned sites.

Happy experiments everyone.

Flightradar24© is an aircraft flight tracking system that displays air traffic around the world in real time. Flightradar24 uses several information sources to display air traffic: ADS-B, MLAT and FAA.

Data from ADS-B, MLAT and the FAA are combined with flight schedules and aircraft status information from airlines and airports to provide an aircraft tracking mechanism using www.flightradar24.com or Flightradar24 desktop applications (in including for mobile devices).

ADS-B

The main technology that the service uses Flightradar24 to obtain flight information data, is automatic dependent surveillance in broadcast mode (ADS-B = Automatic dependent surveillance – Broadcast).

The main essence of ADS-B is reflected in the picture:

  1. Airplanes receive their position information from a satellite navigation system (GPS).
  2. An aircraft's ADS-B transceiver transmits a signal containing information about the aircraft's position (and more).
  3. The ADS-B signal is received by a receiver connected to the Flightradar24 system.
  4. The receiver transmits data to the Flightradar24 system.
  5. Flight data is displayed on the website flightradar24.com and in Flightradar24 computer applications.

ADS-B is a relatively new technology, still in development and implementation, and accordingly is currently rarely used in air traffic services/control (ATC).

According to the Flightradar24 service, approximately 65% ​​of all commercial passenger aircraft(75% in Europe, 35% in US) are equipped for ADS-B. For general aviation (GA) this number is most likely even less than 20%. But every year the number of aircraft equipped with ADS-B is steadily increasing. This is because ADS-B will soon be mandatory on virtually all aircraft, in virtually all classes of airspace around the world (scheduled to be implemented by 2020).

Currently, restrictions have already been introduced for aircraft without ADS-B in the airspace of Australia (from December 2013 FL290 and above), Taiwan (from the beginning of 2014 FIR Taipei FL290 and above), China. Some countries (Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.) are gradually introducing ADS-B, but have not yet introduced restrictions. It is likely that one day ADS-B technology will become the main surveillance method used by ATS and will replace primary radar.

Flightradar24, with a network of more than 4,000 ADS-B receivers around the world, receives information about aircraft and their flights using ADS-B transponders and sends it to the server. ADS-B receivers operate at a high frequency (1090 MHz), so the coverage area of ​​each receiver is limited to a radius of approximately 150-250 miles (250-400 km). The further an aircraft is from a ground receiver, the higher its altitude must be to contact that receiver. The distance limitation makes it very difficult to implement ADS-B in oceanic areas.

ADS-B covers almost 99% of Europe, very good ADS-B coverage in the USA, Canada, Mexico, countries Caribbean, Brazil, central Russia, the Middle East, India, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Other countries and territories are still in the process of organizing and installing ADS-B.

MLAT

In some regions (for example, USA, Europe) with a large number of ADS-B ground stations, the aircraft's location can be determined without installed ADS-B on-board equipment. In this case, MLAT technology is used - multilateration, which uses a method known as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA).

By measuring the time difference between signals received from a standard aircraft transponder by multiple ground stations, the aircraft's position can be easily calculated. To implement MLAT, 4 or more ground stations are required to receive a signal from the aircraft. The more ADS-B receivers on the ground, the more accurate Flightradar24's calculation of an aircraft's position in the airspace.

The MLAT coverage area can be physically implemented only at an altitude of 5,000-10,000 feet (~ 1,500-3,000 m) and above, because The probability that an aircraft signal will be received by four or more ADS-B ground stations increases with increasing altitude.

Most of Europe currently has MLAT coverage starting at altitudes of 5,000-10,000 feet. MLAT is partially implemented in North America, Mexico, Australia and Brazil. In 2014, there was a strong increase in MLAT zones around the world, and this trend continues in 2015.

FAA

As mentioned above, in addition to data from ADS-B and MLAT, Flightradar24 uses information received from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Compared to real-time data from ADS-B and MLAT, data from the FAA arrives with a delay of approximately 5 minutes (those are FAA rules). Accordingly, on the Flightradar24 website the information on these aircraft is not up to date; such aircraft are displayed in orange to separate them from other honest aircraft.

Data from the FAA is based on radar information (i.e., the data includes more than just aircraft equipped with an ADS-B transponder) and includes most scheduled and commercial flights in the United States, Canada, and parts of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Flarm

Flarm is a simplified version of ADS-B with a shorter range, mainly used for small aircraft and gliders. The Flarm receiver range is from 20 to 100 km. Flarm receivers are often installed at small airports with a high volume of glider flights to track all gliders around the airport.

Aircraft displayed on Flightradar24 (within ADS-B coverage)

Initially, ADS-B was used primarily only for surveillance of commercial passenger aircraft with a capacity of 100 passengers or more. During recent years All more planes, including small aircraft, install ADS-B transceivers. Until the requirement for ADS-B equipment on aircraft becomes mandatory, each operator can decide for himself whether to install ADS-B transponders or wait.

Aircraft types equipped with ADS-B transceivers and visible on Flightradar24 (within ADS-B coverage):

  • All Airbus models(A300, A310, A318, A319, A320, A321, A330, A340, A350, A380);
  • An-148;
  • An-158;
  • ATR 72-600 (most new deliveries);
  • BAe ATP;
  • BAe Avro RJ70, RJ85, RJ100;
  • Boeing 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 787;
  • Bombardier CS100 and CS300;
  • Embraer E190 (most new deliveries);
  • Fokker 70 and 100;
  • McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and MD-11;
  • Sukhoi SuperJet 100;
  • Il-96 (latest new aircraft assemblies);
  • Tu-204 (latest new aircraft assemblies).

Aircraft types that do not currently have ADS-B transceivers and therefore are not visible in the Flightradar24 system:

  • "Air Force One";
  • An-124;
  • An-225;
  • ATR 42, 72 (except for the newest deliveries of ATR 72-600);
  • Boeing 707, 717, 727, 737-200, 747-100, 747-200, 747SP;
  • BAe Jetstream 31 and 32;
  • All Bombardier CRJ models;
  • All Bombardier Dash models;
  • All CASA models;
  • All Dornier models;
  • All Embraer models (except the newest Embraer E190 deliveries);
  • De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter;
  • Fokker 50;
  • McDonnell Douglas DC-9, MD-8x, MD-90;
  • Saab 340;
  • Saab 2000;
  • Most helicopters;
  • Most old aircraft;
  • Most business jets;
  • Most military aircraft;
  • Most airplanes have a propeller.

These lists do not claim to be the 100th truth, of course there are exceptions, for example, many old aircraft A300, A310, A320, B737, B747, B757, B767, MD10, MD11 that do not have ADS-B transponders are still flying today , accordingly, these aircraft become invisible to Flightradar24 if the flight is in the ADS-B area, without MLAT. And vice versa, there are aircraft from the second list that already have ADS-B transponders and are displayed in the system Flightradar24.

Aircraft shown on Flightradar24 map (within MLAT, FAA or Flarm coverage)

In regions with MLAT, FAA or Flarm, most air traffic is tracked and displayed on the Flightradar24 map, regardless of aircraft type. Accordingly, Flightradar24 users can monitor turboprop aircraft, helicopters, and gliders using Flightradar24.

But do not forget that this requires a large number of ground receivers and the presence of aircraft at altitudes of 5,000 to 10,000 feet and above, which means that general aviation at lower altitudes can fly below MLAT coverage. The FAA generally does not track general aviation flights for which there were no flight plans.

Data received from the FAA often does not contain registration information for aircraft, and for aircraft that are tracked using MLAT, in many cases there is no aircraft call sign.

Data blocking

For security and privacy reasons, information on some aircraft may be limited or blocked entirely.

That is, if you, having your own aircraft, do not want to be tracked by “enemies” using the Flightradar24 website, you can refer to the FR24 manual and your aircraft will become “invisible”.

Flightradar24 coverage map:

In areas where Flightradar24 covers, all major airports are marked with blue markers. The bulk of Flightradar24's coverage is provided by volunteers around the world. Almost anyone can contribute to the development of Flightradar24 and ADS-B in general by installing a receiver on the roof of their home.

Please note that the coverage area and display of aircraft depends on many parameters: the type of aircraft, the type of aircraft transponder, the altitude of the aircraft and the terrain. Thus, one aircraft can enter the coverage area, but another (with the same coordinate location) cannot.

If you cannot find an aircraft in the Flightradar24 system, this means that it either has an old type of transponder installed (without ADS-B), or it is outside the coverage area of ​​the Flightradar24 network.