What plane is flying over me right now?
Almost every aircraft broadcasts its identity and position by radio. Open an app that reads those broadcasts, look in the direction of the sound, and tap the aircraft that's there. You get its type, operator, route, altitude and speed.
Every plane is saying who it is
Most aircraft carry a transponder that broadcasts a short radio message about twice a second: a unique airframe address, a callsign, GPS position, altitude, speed and heading. The system is called ADS-B, and the signal isn’t encrypted. Thousands of volunteer receivers on rooftops around the world pick it up and share it, which is how an app on your phone can put a plane you can see out the window onto a map.
How to identify it, step by step
- Open a live aircraft map. In Bogey the map centers on you, with range rings so you can judge distance.
- Face the aircraft. Turn the map to match the direction you’re facing, then look for the blip on that side of you.
- Match the height. A jet leaving contrails is high, usually somewhere between about 25,000 and 40,000 feet. Something you can read the paint on is low: on approach to an airport, departing, or a helicopter.
- Tap it. You get the aircraft type, the airline or operator, where it took off, where it’s going, and its altitude and speed.
The sound is behind the plane
If you’re hunting for a jet by ear, look ahead of the noise. Sound takes around half a minute to come down from cruising altitude, and in that time an airliner covers four or five miles. The plane you can hear is no longer where it sounds like it is. Helicopters and low aircraft are close enough that the sound and the aircraft line up.
Clues you can read from the ground
- Two rotors, no tail rotor, a deep thump: a CH-47 Chinook.
- Four engines and a hump on top: a Boeing 747.
- Engines on the tail, not the wings: a regional or business jet, like a CRJ-900.
- Propellers and a high wing: a turboprop, like an ATR 72 or a Dash 8, or a military C-130.
- Small, slow, a single prop: most likely a Cessna 172 or a Piper Cherokee, which are training and weekend airplanes.
Our spotter’s guide goes further: engines, wings, tails and noses.
What if it isn’t on the map?
Some aircraft don’t broadcast, some broadcast without a name, and some fly where no receiver can hear them. Military aircraft are the most common reason. In Bogey an aircraft with no identity shows up as a ghost signal, and identifying one is part of the game. Here’s why planes go missing from maps.
