Air traffic as seen by the FAA

[Ryoukai]

Mmm, it's nice to see a graphic representation of how many planes come to HNL from the mainland since, you know, they all fly right the F over my house on their way in.

 

[Riper Snifle]

Awesome video. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[Gatordev]

Well, when you pull up a specific airport, you're not pulling up raw or secondary radar. You're looking at traffic that is either IFR, or receiving some level of radar service, going to and from that specific airport.

Aircraft squawking 1200 aren't discreet to the system at all, and it would be impossible to pull them up from radar data.

Without knowing the full details, I would make an educated guess that it is all non-military, or otherwise unclassified aircraft that have a discreet squawk code assigned to them. If I try and pull up, say, NAS Pensacola, I see no flights in and out, though surely there are flights going on, at least one.

~Nate

That's exactly what I was getting at, though. What was it exactly we're seeing? I agree it's not raw data, although that would be cool. So the next question was, "What is it?" If it's anything in the ARTCC system, then you should be seeing A LOT more around PNS, since everybody is being controlled. If it's just IFR traffic, which could make sense, then the numbers match up.

And now I see there was a FAQ link, which I missed at first. Sure enough, it's IFR traffic. I don't see it mention anything about military traffic though, so we should still be seeing a xExxx datatag for the IFR training flights if it's not blocked.

 

[NeoCortex]

if it's anything like what I used when I was a line tech in atlanta it's just the IFR filed for that airport. Which is really nice when you're working the night shift and can sleep when no one is due in.

 

[nittany03]

And now I see there was a FAQ link, which I missed at first. Sure enough, it's IFR traffic. I don't see it mention anything about military traffic though, so we should still be seeing a xExxx datatag for the IFR training flights if it's not blocked.

But many IFR training flights out of Whiting at least are actually squawking 1200 and remaining VFR . . . or going on a XC or out-and-in.

 

[gregsivers]

But many IFR training flights out of Whiting at least are actually squawking 1200 and remaining VFR . . . or going on a XC or out-and-in.

All the HT FAM flights squawk 1200 and don't talk to approach at all either. Might account for a few.

 

[Gatordev]

But many IFR training flights out of Whiting at least are actually squawking 1200 and remaining VFR . . . or going on a XC or out-and-in.

Yup, but there are other flights that do. I think part of the problem is that it's been so nice lately, no one is filing (at least when I've looked at it). As for XC, if you're filing IFR, you're filing IFR. Doesn't matter if it's an out&in and/or some special NSE/NDZ code. I've also noticed that when aircraft bound for an airport get to the terminal phase, they lose their data tag. Not sure if that's intentional, but again, it leads me to believe we're just seeing the enroute structure on that web site.

 

[DairyCreamer]

It's getting to the point, I think, where we should just ask them... though there might not be a sufficient response considering it's their own thing.

I doubt that it's just en-route... else we would more likely see big black holes over major cities rather than the cluster of planes we do see, since the TRACONs (especially out east) cover a whole smear of airspace from the surface to some decently high altitude. That, and the system tells you to the minute when the arrived. If data was lost to them when they hit the terminal environment... well, there would be a discrepancy.

If you do like ORD, and you click on the little graphic with the blue and green lines, you can definitely see the tags for people near to the airport (green appears to be overflights / satellite, blue is deps and arrivals to that airport).

~Nate

 

[Gatordev]

Hopefully you understand I'm not trying to argue with you, just trying to figure out how it works, as I think it's a pretty cool tool. As for the tags, I think you're missing my point. An aircraft flying over a terminal area is still in the enroute structure. Sure, he may be talking w/ a terminal controller, but he's not in the terminal phase of flight. So, that's why you see a bunch of tags flying around cities. What I was referring to was when an aircraft gets picked up for a terminal procedure, like an approach or just a handoff for the visual, they seem to disappear in some form or another. Sometimes the blip stays there, but the tag disappears, sometimes it just goes away all together when on the FAC. I had this running on my machine last night while I was doing something else (because I was curious), and that's what I was seeing.

So even though the tag might disappear, yeah, you're right, the data is still there, which makes sense because they're still in the system. I tried something else...I looked up an airplane that my dad used to own. It had a history of flying once in Sept. It flew from St. Pete to Lakeland, presumably for breakfast, as that's a normal trip (the owners are still friends of the family). But the trip was only logged as 23 minutes. The flight it self usually takes about 30-45 mins, but you usually pick up flight following when east of MacDill AFB, and that gives you about a 20 min flight. Soooo, the point of this riveting story is that it doesn't just seem to be IFR histories....or maybe they had a *****in' tail wind.

Again, I know it doesn't really matter, but it's still kind of interesting to try and figure out.

 

[DairyCreamer]

Oh, totally not arguing... trying to figure it out with you than anything. I've always been curious just what information the FAA gives out or is able to give out.

I'd suggest that maybe it goes from activating the flight plan to radar service terminated... but man, I don't know. I'm gonna keep playin around, maybe e-mail them. They're new enough, I'm sure they'd be happy to answer questions.

I love this stuff

~Nate

 

[SteveG75]

At IGS at Whidbey, they love to show a snapshot of all the 1200 squawkers in one day in the Seattle region. Lot of guys going "see and avoid" right where we do our low levels.

 

[Gatordev]

I'd suggest that maybe it goes from activating the flight plan to radar service terminated... but man, I don't know.

~Nate

Or maybe "Cancel IFR" when they pickup the visual approach. That sounds very likely, since then their safety bubble would disappear (or at least get smaller).

 

[skyhntr]

That's Amazing video.. I bookmarked it, I'll have to remember to check the site around the holidays when they say it's the busiest travel day of the year..

Thanks for Sharing!!

*Now I'll never get to sleep on my next flight back east. ;o)