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FlightGlobe

FlightGlobe

Live aircraft tracking by airport, route, airline and aircraft type.

250
Tracked now
350
Strongest (m/s)
OpenSky Network + adsb.lol (ODbL 1.0)
Source
Live map3D globeStatisticsNear meCompareBy countryBy categoryLearnGlossaryAlerts

Right now

All observations →

Scale (m/s)

Stationary / taxiClimb / approachDeparture / arrivalCruiseHigh cruiseSupersonic+

Learn the basics

A live flight tracker shows where aircraft are right now — their position, altitude, speed and identity — drawn as moving dots on a map. Almost all of it comes from one technology: ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast), in which each aircraft works out its own position from GPS and broadcasts it on the 1090 MHz radio frequency, several times a second, for anyone with a receiver to hear.

FlightGlobe assembles these broadcasts primarily from the OpenSky Network, with a best-effort ADSB.lol fallback for aircraft tagged as military-registered. For every aircraft it shows a “state vector” — position, altitude, ground speed (in m/s), heading and climb or descent — alongside its callsign and identity. Because the data is broadcast rather than commanded, the map is a window onto the airspace, not a control panel: it reflects what aircraft are saying about themselves.

How live flight tracking worksADS-B, the 1090 MHz broadcast, ground receivers and the state vector — the chain that turns a GPS fix in the cockpit into a dot on the map.Reading a single flightCallsign vs. ICAO address vs. registration, altitude and flight levels, ground speed, and the squawk codes that flag an emergency.Aircraft, airspace and air-traffic controlWhat controllers do, how airspace is layered and divided, and how the structure you can’t see explains the patterns you can.Why flights disappear or look wrongCoverage gaps over oceans and remote areas, filtered or blocked aircraft, and data lag — the limits behind a missing or jumpy track.
Glossary →About & FAQ →