Help & FAQ
Everything you need to know about using FlightTrack.
How to track a flight in 3 steps
- 1Open FlightTrack — Go to flighttrack.au — no download or sign-up needed. The live map loads immediately showing all aircraft worldwide.
- 2Find your flight — Pinch to zoom into an airport or region. Each coloured icon is a live aircraft. Use the search bar to find a specific callsign (e.g. QF11, EK415).
- 3Tap to see details — Tap or click any aircraft to open its detail panel: airline, type, registration, altitude, speed, route, and more.
Getting Started
Yes — FlightTrack is completely free. There is no subscription, no ads, and no sign-up required. You can track live flights worldwide at no cost, forever.
No account is required. Open flighttrack.au in any modern browser and the live map starts immediately — no download, no email, no password.
Yes. FlightTrack is fully mobile-optimised for iOS and Android. Pinch to zoom, tap aircraft to see details, and swipe to pan the map. You can also add it to your home screen as a Progressive Web App for a native-app-like experience.
On iPhone: open FlightTrack in Safari, tap the Share button, then 'Add to Home Screen'. On Android: open in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu, then 'Add to Home screen'. This installs FlightTrack as a PWA with full-screen mode.
Using the Map
Use the search bar at the top of the map and type the flight callsign (e.g. QF11, EK413, VA400) or aircraft registration. Matching aircraft will be highlighted on the map.
Clicking any aircraft opens a detail panel showing: airline and callsign, aircraft type and registration, origin and destination, current altitude, ground speed, heading, vertical rate (climb/descent), Mach number, squawk code, and the operator logo. A route arc is also drawn on the map.
The filter panel in the top-left corner lets you toggle aircraft categories on and off: Commercial (blue), Helicopter (cyan), Private (amber), Military (purple), and Ground vehicles (green). Live counts update as you toggle filters.
Tap the map style button in the bottom-right corner. FlightTrack offers five styles: Google Maps (default — paper white), Dark, Voyager (CartoDB), Light, and Satellite.
The location button (crosshair icon) shows your current GPS position on the map. Tap it once to centre on your location; if your device has a compass, your heading is also displayed. Location data stays in your browser and is never sent to our servers.
Aircraft & Flight Data
Aircraft positions update every 5 seconds in the browser. The server caches fresh ADS-B data for up to 10 seconds, so positions may be up to 10 seconds behind live.
Blue = Commercial airliner · Cyan = Helicopter · Amber = Private jet or turboprop · Purple = Military aircraft · Green = Ground vehicle (airport tug, baggage cart, etc.) · Grey = Unknown category. The colours help you quickly identify aircraft types at a glance.
FlightTrack relies on ADS-B transponders. Some older aircraft, low-altitude helicopters, and very small private planes may not be equipped with ADS-B. Military aircraft often disable ADS-B intentionally. Additionally, remote areas with no ADS-B ground receivers will have coverage gaps.
Altitude is shown in feet above mean sea level (AMSL), matching standard aviation notation. Aircraft on final approach will typically descend from around 3,000 ft to touchdown.
A squawk code is a 4-digit number set by the pilot on their transponder, assigned by air traffic control to identify the aircraft on radar. 7700 = Emergency, 7600 = Radio failure, 7500 = Hijack — FlightTrack highlights these automatically.
Route (origin/destination) data comes from a separate database that may not cover all charter flights, general aviation, or very new routes. If a flight shows no route, it may be a non-scheduled service or a training flight.
Data Sources
Aircraft position data comes from ADSB.lol, a free community-powered global ADS-B network. Route and callsign data comes from adsbdb.com. Airport data is a curated static dataset maintained by FlightTrack. All data sources are free and open.
ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) is a surveillance technology where aircraft broadcast their GPS position, altitude, speed, and identity every second via radio. Ground receivers and satellites pick up these signals and feed them into networks. All modern commercial aircraft are required to carry ADS-B transponders in Australia, the US, Europe, and many other regions.
ADS-B is GPS-based and typically accurate to within 5–10 metres horizontally. The data you see on FlightTrack is refreshed every 5 seconds in the browser; the server caches ADS-B data for up to 10 seconds, so positions may lag real-time by up to 10 seconds.
FlightTrack's backend API is a private proxy of public data sources and is not a publicly documented API. If you want to build with ADS-B data, use ADSB.lol directly — it's free and has no authentication requirement.