ADSB iPhone App

[Chris Z]

Plane Finder is an iPhone App that allows adsb viewing here in Australia.

Might be worth a look at, and if you have a box to uplink your data to the application, the better this might end up being...

[Oliver Gigacz]

I have used it for a couple of months now, and love it.

But it only has live flights for Sydney and Melbourne. It would be great if we could see Adelaide or Perth come a long.

P.S: You can view it on mac or pc for free: http://www.planefinder.net/

[Jeff N]

Is it just me, or have the Melbourne flights disappeared from this application over the past few days??

[Oliver Gigacz]

They are back now, Mark Davies provides the data for Melbourne and he has told me that he will be stopping it in August.

Shame:(

[Jeff N]

That IS a pity..I was just starting to get really hooked on it.

A few questions.

1. Why did it disappear?

2. How does Mark Davies supply the information?

3. Why is he ceasing to do so from August.

4. Is there any reasonable likelihood of anybody else being able to do so?

[Mark Fahey]

I provide the Sydney data and will be continuing (forever!). In fact just recently I doubled the data frequency. I use to supply a data burst once every 60 seconds, currently I am sending every 30 seconds, in a few weeks when I move to a new data plan the frequency will be every 20 seconds.

As well as the iPhone app there is an iPad version, check it out, the larger screen adds a lot to the experience.

Cheers,
Mark

[Oliver Gigacz]

I have since found a new site, which contains live flight tracking for the east coast and Adelaide.

There is also a feature that allows you to look up to flight history of each aircraft.

http://www.flightradar24.com/?lat=m27d44&lng=136d93&zoom=4

[damian f]

I note that Adelaide now has started a share on PlaneFinder on the IPhone!!

Flightradar24 is also nice but a few too many 'bugs' that slow it down on my computers...

Damian

[Oliver Gigacz]

As some of you know most B737-7, 737-3, 737-4, 763, E170, E190, and Dash 8s not appear on the ADS-B radar, Is this going to change? I think I herd a while ago that in 2012 all aircraft most be equipped with ADS-B?

[Mick F]

I think I herd a while ago that in 2012 all aircraft most be equipped with ADS-B?

No.

I believe the requirement is all aircraft flying above FL280 are required to have ADS-B by then, or something to that effect.

Because of many many varied reasons, and the sad state of aviation below the airlines, I don't see ADS-B ever becoming a REQUIREMENT in all aircraft.

Mick

[Oliver Gigacz]

So if it is FL28 than Qantas will have to start installing it soon.

When and if they do, will we be able to see them on sites such as plane finder and flightradar24? Because I have noticed that some 763s are showing on the radar but just off the coast of west Africa (Center of the map) which makes me think they have been installed and not turned on or something?

[Mick F]

Well if they're off the coast of West Africa, then they're not Qantas 767's.

I guess they'll be installed when Qantas see fit to install them over the next couple of years.

Mick

[Oliver Gigacz]

Yes they are of the west coast. Just off the west coast of Africa is the center of the map. What I am thinking is that as they cannot be located they are shown on the center of the map.

This is why I am thinking that they are installed but maybe not fully operational.

[Peter JB]

I have noticed anomalies sometimes with the aircraft represented on Flightradar24... I've seen instances where an Air France 777 has been placed well south of Perth which is obviously incorrect (particularly as there is no ADSB site feeding into this program from the Perth area), I put it down to data errors either in the transmissions coming from the plane (wherever it actually is on the planet at that time) or errors within the application itself.

Oliver, when you see 763's are they labeled with a Qantas rego or are they just showing up as a 763 without a proper rego ident?

[Oliver Gigacz]

I have attached a photo to show you,

A lot of Aussie aircraft do appear in this area (the center of the map). The aircraft usually seen in that spot are Fokker 50s/100s, Dash 8s, 737-700s, 767s, E170s, E190s. Basically all aircraft that cannot be tracked on ADS-B.

My question is when the FL280 rule is put into effect, Will we be able to track these aircraft?

[Peter JB]

Is that on Ipad? I can't get it to work too well on my ITouch so I use PC. Can't explain why yours shows that way so you may be right. To answer your question, I guess you will be able to track once other aircraft have it installed.

[Oliver Gigacz]

Yes it is on an iPad. To get it that way you zoom out and touch the search button, Than type in VH. All the usual VH planes can be seen (i,e: 738s, 747s A380s, A330s, A320s).

But than click "Search Server" and it will list the aircraft that cannot be located (Dash 8s, 717s, 733s, 734s, 763s, E190s, E170s, etc)

[Mick F]

Correct me if I'm wrong (Dave Parer, where are you?), but aircraft which come up in your search, with no location, are non ADS-B equipped aircraft. So if I'm correct Olivier, these aircraft do NOT have ADS-B. They do transmit some sort of info which detects them though, hence why they'd appear on your little display thing, but with no location data etc.

Cheers

Mick

[Matt D]

This may clarify: http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/projectsservices/projects/adsb/mandate.asp

[Mark Fahey]

Re the Aircraft appearing off the coast of Africa....

These are aircraft that have Mode S transponders fitted, but are not currently sending location data in their data stream. They hence plot in the system at 0,0 which is off the west coast of Africa.

Cheers,
Mark