No way to track int'l flights?

[JPenny]

Is there really NO WAY to track trans-atlantic flights? I've been tracking my ATL to PHX flight and it is REALLY helping me (hurray for Google Earth!). I just wish I could track my PHX to London flight (British Airways) a couple times before I leave. Is it really impossible, or are there some secret websites out there that allow you to do it?

Jean

[Barb-SAN]

Is there really NO WAY to track trans-atlantic flights? I've been tracking my ATL to PHX flight and it is REALLY helping me (hurray for Google Earth!). I just wish I could track my PHX to London flight (British Airways) a couple times before I leave. Is it really impossible, or are there some secret websites out there that allow you to do it?

Jean

Jean, I don't have the answer to international tracking, but I am curious to know how you are combining ATL-PHX tracking with Google Earth.

Barb-SAN

[Lynda]

Jean,

Have you tried to track your London flight, I have tracked quite a number in the past, I also have been tracked from Uk to Orlando, sometimes it does not pick the flight up until it gets in to the Atlantic, sometimes it does. I think if the flight either starts or finishes in the US you can often track.

[JPenny]

Barb:
I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I'll try to explain. I downloaded Google Earth to my Mac. I figured out by doing a search for a place, that I could download all the flights going to both the ATL airport and also JFK. I haven't found any other airports that will do this.

Then, I used the link in the first posting on the message board (to fboweb), entered the flight info, and when it came up there was the Google Earth button I could use to download the flight info for that particular flight. I was not able to do this directly from the fboweb website: only by using the link on the tracking board. Not sure why.

I saved the download to my hard drive and then opened it from Google Earth. Voila! There was my flight!

There was a little glitch with the download. It had a suffix like "aspx" or something. When I changed it to "kml" it opened just fine in Google Earth.

Hope this isn't too confusing!

Jean

[Barb-SAN]

Jean, Thanks for posting those instructions. I didn't really get it at first, as I didn't see anywhere on Google Earth to choose all flights going to a specific airport. However, I did know that NWA flight 276 flies to Detroit from San Diego, because I've taken it. There's a place on fboweb to click ("new Google Earth") when you want to track a specific flight number. I did that, and it went to Google Earth, and showed a few "thumbtacks". I clicked one of those, and it showed Flight 276 information in a white box. I clicked it again, and it zoomed down to the airport, and showed "my plane" about ready to land (in Buffalo, NY)! I've forgotten now at what point I did this, but I did have to save the file to Internet downloads, and there was that .aspx which goofed things up, and I couldn't open the file. When I changed it to .kml as you instructed, then it worked. HOW did you know to do THAT??? So this Google Earth photo is a point in time, and doesn't show a moving plane.

Anyway, here is the final Google Earth photo, of the plane on final approach to landing on the runway (it appears). This definitely takes flight tracking to a whole new level. Thanks for sharing!:thumbsup: (I'd just been using Google Earth to zoom around and look at the scenery!)

Barb-SAN

[Barb-SAN]

So...I managed to just catch my regular San Diego-Detroit flight NWA 276 coming in for a landing this morning. Woohoo...getting the hang of the program too!:) And...you can tilt your picture just like Google Earth without the flight tracking software, and print out a picture in case you want to see what the view will be like as you are coming in to land. That's something to keep your mind occupied, rather than thinking about what the plane is doing....bumps, turns, etc. Now, we need to see if we can find a "corkscrew" take-off or landing somewhere!(San Jose?....Angela...flight number?)

Barb-SAN

[JPenny]

I figured out the .kml thing just from looking at another google earth download file that did work.

Go to the link below, and you'll be able to download inbound traffic to LAX, Boston Logan, Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, JFK, Miami, Seattle/Tacoma, and San Francisco Int'l. You can also enter a specific flight number and only track it.

Too cool!!! http://www.fboweb.com/antest/ge/intro.aspx

Also, here's a place that shows small planes, military planes, ect. all over the world. I haven't investigated it enough to really understand if it's live or not, but I'm sure you flying fanatics can figure it out.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/360116/an/0/page/0#360116

Happy tracking!!!

Jean :wave:

[Barb-SAN]

Thanks Jean...There's surely lots to explore. I found this page that explains more about combining Google Earth and flight tracking. I also posted it on the tracking forum.

http://www.fboweb.com/fb40/pu/info/gep.aspx

Barb-SAN

[Barb-SAN]

Jean, Did you try TILTING that Google Earth map of all the planes in flight? Suddenly you also get to see their altitude, and whether or not they are ascending or descending...the whole 3-D image! Astounding...and it's in "real time" and refreshes itself every minute or so.

I wonder what our ATC guy, parrothead, has to say about this?

Barb-SAN

[JPenny]

COOL! So it's a real representation of what's going on right now??!! How do they do that?? I noticed it doesn't include commercial flights--at least it seemed that it didn't when I was looking at it, but I didn't spend much time to figure it out.


Thanks for your encouragement about my upcoming flights! Wish I could meet you and many others here in person. (Actually, what I REALLY wish is that "all of y'all" (that's the southern plural of "you") could come with me on my trip!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Jean

[spleisher]

Those are definitely commercial flights. The name of the airline is typically shortened though.

UAL - United
SWA - Southwest
DAL - Delta Airlines

etc..

Enjoy!