How to Track Airline Flights Online

How to Track an Airline Flight

• 1

  Make a note of the airline and flight number of any flight currently in progress. Then go to FlightAware.com (see Resources below for the link) and enter the information in the spaces provided on left side of the screen.

• 2

  Click the “Track Commercial Flight” button and you will be taken to a new page with a list of flights in the past three days matching the information you entered.

• 3

  Find the correct date of departure on the list (this is normally the first or second entry). If the flight has not yet departed, it will be displayed in italics. If it is en route, or has already arrived, it will be displayed in normal script. Click on the appropriate date to display detailed information on the flight in which you are interested.

• 4

  View a new page with a map at the top showing the current position of flight you requested. Additionally, next to the aircraft, you will see a data tag, much like what air-traffic controllers see, containing information such as the flight's current altitude and speed. On the right side of the screen, more detailed information will be displayed, including the exact time of departure, and current estimate for the plane's arrival. Each time you refresh the page the information will be updated with the latest available data.

How to Interpret the Flight Information

• 5

  See that the map display shows the aircraft's current position on a map of the United States. The line behind the aircraft shows the aircraft's flightpath going all the way back to the point of origin.

• 6

  Know that the “data tags” on the map are similar in style to what an air traffic controller sees on her radar screen, and use the same conventional abbreviations. The top line includes the flight number and the aircraft type. For example: DAL1080 B752 refers to Delta Airlines Flightl0, and the aircraft type is a Boeing 757-200. The middle-line includes the current altitude in hundreds of feet, and speed in knots (nautical miles per hour). The altitude is always first and the speed is always second. For example: 218^ 413 means that the aircraft is currently at 21,800 feet and climbing. The current speed is 413 knots. The bottom line includes the standard ICAO codes for the departure and destination airports.

• 7

  Be aware that the departure and arrival times shown are the times of takeoff and landing, rather than the time of departure or arrival at the gate.