How to Track Small Aircraft on Instrument Flight Plans

Obtain the registration or tail number of the aircraft you want to track. If you are able to clearly see an airplane on the ground or flying overhead you can find this number prominently painted on the aircraft fuselage or tail. Tail numbers are actually a combination of letters and numbers. Aircraft registered in the United States have tail numbers beginning with the letter N.

Look up civilian aircraft online at the FAA aircraft database to find an N-number if you are not physically looking at an aircraft. You can use one or more of several criteria including make and model, location or owner's name. Another option is to use publicly available information about flight activity at a particular airport to locate specific or random aircraft by tail number. Aeroseek is one site that provides this service.

Enter the aircraft's tail number in a flight tracking website that provides tracking service by tail number. FltPlan provides both real time and historical flight tracking, as does Flight Aware. Both provide aircraft and flight information including a graphical representation of the airplane's flight path. If you have located a flight through Aeroseek, you may then click on the tail number and track that flight via Air Nav Live. If you prefer, you may manually enter the tail number in another flight tracker of your choice.

Observe the aircraft and flight information for the aircraft you selected. If the selected aircraft is not on an instrument flight plan, no tracking information will be displayed. To track another flight, enter another tail number.