# Which Plane is Over My House?



## MrFSS (Mar 3, 2014)

This is sort of neat:

*LINK*


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## the_traveler (Mar 3, 2014)

None near me!  Even planes don't fly near me!

But I shouldn't say that. I'm directly in the landing path of the main runway at TF Green (PVD) - 35–40 miles away.


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## AmtrakBlue (Mar 3, 2014)

Cool


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## Ryan (Mar 3, 2014)

That's very well done.


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## SarahZ (Mar 3, 2014)

Holy cow. That's insane.


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## MattW (Mar 3, 2014)

That app gets some of its data from volunteers who use their own receivers to receive ads-b information direct from the aircraft themselves. Setting one up can be really cheap. For my setup (which isn't permanent), I bought a ~$24 Terratec DVB USB receiver, it's really intended for European digital TV reception, and using something called sdr-install (found online), installed the driver for it and checked out its general reception by using the sdrsharp included with the sdr-install by tuning to a known FM station. After that, I found a program that will decode the ADS-B data, and sure enough, with the included antenna magnetically attached to of all things, a 1/4" section of rail given to me years ago, received the data from nearby aircraft! I never signed up to post the information online since my setup was just for fun, but someday I may look into a more permanent setup providing information to flightradar or another one.


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## oregon pioneer (Mar 3, 2014)

Nothing above us right now. I think the only flight path that regularly goes over our place is the Delta Connection from SLC to RDM. I got aerial photos of my neighborhood one time, on my way home from BOS. It was kinda cool, but if I'd had the time and advance notice, I'd have been on the train!


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## JayPea (Apr 23, 2014)

I just stumbled on this post snf the above link to the website while searching for something else. I find it fascinating, especially given that A) I have no life and B) it takes very little to amuse/entertain me.


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## Texan Eagle (Apr 24, 2014)

It is more fascinating if you live outside the US though, because most of the information you see in the US (orange planes) comes from the FAA with a 5 minute delay, thanks to our overprotective (paranoid?) government.. while the yellow planes are realtime live above your head right now.


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 24, 2014)

Texan Eagle said:


> It is more fascinating if you live outside the US though, because most of the information you see in the US (orange planes) comes from the FAA with a 5 minute delay, thanks to our overprotective (paranoid?) government.. while the yellow planes are realtime live above your head right now.


Are you sure you have that right? My understanding is that most of those orange planes would simply be invisible outside of the US. If the US is being paranoid then why are they mandating ADS-B for commercial flights in controlled airspace to within a couple years of the EU's own mandate? Sorry but this just isn't adding up at all.


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## JayPea (Apr 24, 2014)

Devil's Advocate said:


> Texan Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > It is more fascinating if you live outside the US though, because most of the information you see in the US (orange planes) comes from the FAA with a 5 minute delay, thanks to our overprotective (paranoid?) government.. while the yellow planes are realtime live above your head right now.
> ...


A quick perusal of the map of Europe shows that indeed almost all of the orange planes are invisible. They just show up over the US and Canada, with very few exceptions.


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## NW cannonball (Apr 24, 2014)

OK, I'm confused -- WHICH planes show up as orange? the ones reported by the aviation authorities or the ones reported by freelancers? -

I have noticed, following a relatives flight from Hamburg to Amsterdam, that the flight information on the airline's site was delayed by more than 30 minutes.

I do love the map - super cool.


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## Ryan (Apr 24, 2014)

The orange planes are based on FAA data, which is 5 minutes delayed.

The yellow planes are from directly received ADS-B, which is much less time delayed.


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## Texan Eagle (Apr 24, 2014)

Devil's Advocate said:


> Texan Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > It is more fascinating if you live outside the US though, because most of the information you see in the US (orange planes) comes from the FAA with a 5 minute delay, thanks to our overprotective (paranoid?) government.. while the yellow planes are realtime live above your head right now.
> ...


Yes, that is right. Europe and parts of Asia have adopted ADB-B bigtime so if you move your map to those parts of the world you will see every plane is yellow, that's all real time data- you can see the plane on the map, step out and look in the sky and the plane will be right there. US resisted going to ADS-B aggressively so a lot of planes operated by domestic US airlines show in orange based on FAA data that is 5 minutes delayed. If you see an orange plane on the map and go out to spot it, you won't see it because it would have passed you five minutes ago.


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 24, 2014)

Texan Eagle said:


> Devil's Advocate said:
> 
> 
> > Texan Eagle said:
> ...


Can we stop trying to work backwards from your original conclusion for a moment?

So far as I am aware it's still perfectly legal to operate aircraft over the EU without ADS-B. So let's say an aircraft WITHOUT active ADS-B travels from US to EU. As expected the aircraft is displayed while in US monitored airspace courtesy of FAA. This same aircraft disappears from active monitoring while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Does this aircraft without ADS-B reappear when it reaches the EU? If yes then by what method does the aircraft reappear? If the aircraft does not reappear then isn't the US providing _more_ information than the EU? Just because you don't see orange colored icons outside of North America doesn't mean all aircraft in the area are being monitored in real time. Eventually ADS-B will be mandatory over much of the developed world, including here in the US, and critical mass will dictate that the vast majority of aircraft will be setup with real time monitoring even in those situations where it is not strictly required. But for now the US appears to be providing as much if not more information than most other governments and they're only a couple years behind the EU in mandating ADS-B for most commercial flights.


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## Texan Eagle (Apr 24, 2014)

Devil's Advocate said:


> Texan Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > Yes, that is right. Europe and parts of Asia have adopted ADB-B bigtime so if you move your map to those parts of the world you will see every plane is yellow, that's all real time data- you can see the plane on the map, step out and look in the sky and the plane will be right there. US resisted going to ADS-B aggressively so a lot of planes operated by domestic US airlines show in orange based on FAA data that is 5 minutes delayed. If you see an orange plane on the map and go out to spot it, you won't see it because it would have passed you five minutes ago.
> ...


I never said who is providing more or less information, all I mentioned was the difference in getting *real-time vs delayed* information. If the US had adopted ADS-B on commercial planes as aggressively as Europe did, the skies above the US would be full of yellow planes that you can track in real-time, as opposed to the current state where you can still track non ADS-B (orange) planes over the US which is nice, but the downside is 5 minutes delayed so you can't use it to figure out "what plane is over my head" literally.

In short,

*Europe* = can track only yellow planes, but almost every commercial plane is already yellow, so yay!

*US* = can track yellow AND orange planes, but a lot of commercial planes are still orange so we get to see them 5 minutes late.


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## JayPea (Apr 24, 2014)

In my case, the point of yellow vs. orange planes is moot at the moment since the forecast is for overcast and rain for about the next 6,546 days....at least.  But it still works in that if I see a plane overhead I can look at the map and see which plane it is. If it is a non-ADS-B equipped plane, I can tell by seeing which orange planes according to the map are about 5 minutes out. Or by seeing which orange planes look to be about 5 minutes out on the map and looking skyward. So far it works fine. And it looks as though by 2020 almost all US planes are to be equipped with ADS-B. So until then I get to use my rudimentary extrapolating skills in determining which plane is which.  Fortunately in my area there isn't a great deal of air traffic so it isn't too difficult.


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## MattW (Apr 24, 2014)

Have you considered that the 5 minute delay may not be for security but for technical reasons?


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## NW cannonball (Apr 26, 2014)

MattW said:


> Have you considered that the 5 minute delay may not be for security but for technical reasons?


Or possibly for technical reasons that the techs like to blame on security reasons


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## NS VIA Fan (Apr 26, 2014)

JayPea said:


> .......I find it fascinating, especially given that A) I have no life and B) it takes very little to amuse/entertain me.


I can relate to that!!

I have the FlightRadar App on my phone and it’s great to sit out on the deck (beer in hand) on a summer evening and watch the steady stream of transatlantic flights. I live in the Canadian Maritimes and just about everything between the northeast US and Europe goes overhead...... and with this App, I now have all the details on what I’m seeing. Perhaps an Air France A380......75 minutes out of JFK heading for an arrival at CDG in about 5 1\2 hours or a British Airways 777 bound for London.


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## JayPea (Apr 26, 2014)

NS VIA Fan said:


> JayPea said:
> 
> 
> > .......I find it fascinating, especially given that A) I have no life and B) it takes very little to amuse/entertain me.
> ...


Nice to see I'm not the only lifeless one around? :lol: Where I live, in southeastern Washington, there actually isn't a tremendous amount of air traffic. Mainly Alaska Airlines flights from Seattle to such exotic places as Bozeman and Billings, Montana. Or occasional Southwest or Delta airlines flights to/from Spokane and Salt Lake City or Denver. I have the phone app too and I take it along on my nightly walk. I live on my town's main street, which lies at the bottom of a steep, narrow canyon, and my stroll takes me to the top of the canyon, some 500 feet or so above the main drag, and I get of course a much better view of the sky from there. As I said, there isn't a whole lot of action right here, really, though I have seen flights from San Francisco to Dubai on Emerites Airlines and Vancouver to Varadaro, Cuba on SunWing Airlines. My mother lives about 25 miles northwest of me and there is quite a bit more air traffic where she lives, with a lot of flights to/from Vancouver and Seattle and O'Hare or JFK.


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