Flyte Trax Help/FAQ

Content-length: 10631 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Flyte Trax Help/FAQ

Flyte Trax Help / FAQ

What is Flyte Trax?
Filling out the Query Form.
What do the Server Responses mean?
Why wasn't my flight found?
How to read the data tag.

If menu bar does not load, please use the text menu selections at the bottom of the page

Go to Flyte Trax Query Page

What is Flyte Trax?

Flyte Trax uses cutting-edge technology to get visual access to real-time aircraft information. The exact location of commercial aircraft flying over the continental United States can be displayed and their ETAs calculated based on the position and speed of the aircraft. Here is an example of the image returned from a successful Flyte Trax query.

The Flyte Trax data originates from the FAA. Before departure, the data source is from the filed flight plan. After departure, the data comes from radar tracking of the aircraft. For this reason, the Flyte Trax on-line query system can not be used reliably for international or intercontinental flights.

Filling out the Query Form.

There are two query forms for tracking a flight. The scrolling list query page contains lists of the major commercial airlines and the continental U.S. airports for which Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs) are issued. The airline and destination airport can be selected by scrolling through the list and clicking on an entry. The flight number has to be entered into the text box. To submit the query, click on the gray button below the airport list. If airline you wish to query is not in the list, please use the alternate text box query page described below.

The text box query page contains boxes to manually enter the airline identifier, flight number, and destination airport identifier. The identifiers may be entered upper or lower case.

Airline Three Letter Identifier:
This field must be the airline three letter identifier. If you are unsure of an airline's three letter identifier, please use our scrolling list query page.

Examples of acceptable entries:

(aal is the identifier for American)

(Trans World)

(Continental)

(United)

Airline Flight Number:
The airline flight number is to be entered here.

Examples of acceptable entries:

Destination Airport Identifier:
This entry accepts an airport's three letter identifier. If there is any doubt about the three letter airport identifier, please use our scrolling list query page. This entry is critical to finding the flight.

Examples of acceptable entries:

(The identifier for Kennedy airport, New York City)

(The identifier for Dallas/Ft. Worth airport)

(The identifier for Los Angeles international airport)

(The identifier for Chicago/O'Hare airport)

(The identifier for Chicago/Midway airport)

What do the Server Responses mean?

"Requested Flight not found in database."
If you request a flight and get this server response error, it does not necessarily mean the information you entered is incorrect. A flight under the name of a major airline may in fact be flown by sub-carrier airline. For instance, a USAir Express flight may not be found using the airline ID USA, but will be found using the sub-carrier's ID (PDT - Piedmont, JIA - Jetstream International, etc..). Also, on occasion, the FAA data on which Flyte Trax is based will not have information on a flight. We suggest waiting a few minutes and trying again. It would also be a good idea to verify the submitted identifiers and flight number.

"The flyte-trax server is momentarily very busy; try again."
This response means that the Flyte Trax server is too busy to accept your request. Please click the 'back' button on your browser and try submitting the request again. If the server repeatedly responds that it is too busy, please wait about 5 minutes and try again.

"Failed 'connect' errno:146: Connection Refused."
This response means that the Flyte Trax server is temporarily down. Occasionally, the Flyte Trax server locks up due to heavy use. This usually results in having to conduct a reboot of the system. Please be patient, as it usually takes about 15 minutes for the system to begin ingesting data and processing the Flyte Trax requests again.

How to read the data tag.

From the example Flyte Trax query image shown above:

UAL617: United Airlines flight 617
240/B727: Altitude: 24,000 ft above sea level / Aircraft type: Boeing 727
1:08/332: Estimated Time of Arrival: (1 hour, 8 minutes) / Ground speed of aircraft: 332 Knots
DCA ORD: Departure Airport ID: DCA / Destination Airport ID: ORD