Flight routes. Flightradar24 – aircraft tracking

Many have noticed that during flight the plane makes dozens of turns, often in different directions. There is a popular opinion among passengers that course changes are associated with dispatcher commands and are intended to prevent aircraft from colliding, but this is not entirely true. When flying outside the airfield area, in the vast majority of cases, this task is performed by setting different altitudes and speeds for a particular flight. A natural question arises: why not fly in a straight line with minimal maneuvering during takeoff and landing? The fact is that in the sky, as well as on earth, there are roads - airways, whose main task is to streamline aircraft flows and achieve the most efficient use of airspace. In this article we will tell you why air routes are needed, how they are formed flight route specific flight, what is the role of the pilot and dispatcher in this process, why the same flight can be carried out along completely different routes on different days.

Flight along the shortest route.

Obviously, the most profitable route is the so-called orthodromy- the shortest distance between two points on the earth's surface. On the map, the orthodrome looks like an arcuate line, which is due to the fact that the map is a projection of a spherical earth onto a plane.

The shortest distance Moscow - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Of course, flying in a straight line from point A to point B is faster and more economical than flying along a “broken” air route. However, until recently, it was almost impossible to fly along such a trajectory, which was due to the capabilities of the navigation equipment. In addition, if all aircraft flew along random trajectories, at the current stage of development of air traffic control systems, this would lead to the impossibility of “separating” all these aircraft in the air. There are also a wide variety of prohibited and restricted flight zones that cannot be flown through.

Traditional navigation.

Historically, a flight route consists of a sequence of so-called intermediate turning points And " lags"(from the English leg) - areas between them.

Network of air routes over Moscow.

At the dawn of aviation, the need to fly along a route was associated solely with the performance of navigation tasks. The basic navigation method is a flight from one characteristic landmark to another; of course, this method is applicable under the condition of visibility of the ground, i.e. in visual weather conditions. By the way, visual navigation is still actively used in “small aviation”.

With the development of aviation, the need arose to carry out flights even in conditions where there is no visibility of the earth’s surface, i.e. exclusively on instruments. This is how a navigation method called radio navigation. The essence of this method is that radio stations were installed at certain points along the route, the crew on board determined the direction to the radio station and flew to it. Over time, a device was developed called automatic radio compass (ARC), which allows you to accurately determine the direction to the radio station. The radio stations themselves began to be called “drive” or in English N.D.B.(non-directional beacon). The range of such transmitters is about 250 kilometers, which necessitated the creation of a fairly extensive network of stations. Over time, more advanced and accurate radio beacons appeared VOR, the range of which is up to 350 kilometers. It is these distances that determine the length of the route section, and it must be understood that you can maintain the direction not only when flying to the radio station, but also from the radio station.

Drive radio and air routes.

Navigation methods based on ground-based radios are widely used in civil aviation, but today the main navigation method is. The flight is still carried out from point to point, but now they represent only a conventional name and geographical coordinates; the installation of any ground equipment is no longer required.

Route formation.

So, how is the flight route of a specific flight along which the plane will ultimately fly formed? Below we will tell you how this happens in large airlines.

Any serious carrier has an air navigation support department, which, from the existing network of points and routes, creates several route options for each flight, usually 5 - 10 routes. These routes are stored in the airline's database and loaded into the aircraft's onboard navigation systems, called "company routes".

Route option Vnukovo - St. Petersburg.

Prepares a specific flight already on the day of departure flight dispatcher, it is this specialist who chooses the optimal route, assessing all route restrictions and meteorological conditions. It often turns out that flying along a longer route is much more profitable due to different wind speeds and directions in different areas. The selected route is approved and transmitted to the air traffic services service, i.e. dispatchers.

Thus, pilots receive a ready-made flight route, in accordance with which the flight will be carried out. During the flight, changes may be made to the route; for example, if possible, the dispatcher may allow the so-called “straightening”, i.e. exclude one or more intermediate points from the route. In addition, by decision of the commander, dangerous weather phenomena, usually thunderstorms, can be avoided.

Actual track line. Sheremetyevo - St. Petersburg.

As already mentioned, the flight route of an aircraft consists of a sequence of points and routes; below we will present the real route from Vnukovo Airport to St. Petersburg, this is exactly how the pilot and dispatcher see it.

UUWW UM4D UM DCT AR DCT OBELU B239 AJ R369 DB B964 LUKIR LUKI1A ULLI

UUWW– international code of Vnukovo airfield
UM4D– departure route designation (SID)
U.M.– drive radio station “Ivanovskoe”
DCT- "right on"
AR— drive radio station “Buzharovo”
DCT- "right on"
OBELU– point designation
B239– route designation
A.J.— drive radio station “Staritsa”
R369— route designation
D.B.— drive radio station “Pochinok”
LUKIR- point designation
LUKI1A– arrival route designation (STAR)
ULLI— international code of Pulkovo airfield

The route designation already includes a sequence of points; the name of the point or drive radio station itself is indicated in the route when the route changes. Reduction DCT(direct to - “directly on”) is used in cases where it is impossible to fly along the route, or the air traffic services authority allows planning off-route flights.

As you can see, when forming a route, like 50 years ago, drive radio stations are used, but along with them, unmarked navigation points are also used.

In preparation for departure, the pilot enters the route in the form of a sequence of points into the on-board navigation computer. The data for each point (name, coordinates, call signs) is already contained in the on-board database. If the carrier uses pre-planned routes company routes, the pilot just needs to select the route index, for example “UUWWULLI01”. It is not difficult to guess that UUWW is the departure airport (Vnukovo), and ULLI is the destination airport (Pulkovo), 01 is the serial number of the route option.

On-board navigation computer (FMS) control panel.

Future.

Already today, a number of European states are introducing the concept of Free Route Airspace, the essence of which is that instead of air routes, only information about navigation points is published. Flight planning is carried out along any route passing through published points, and it is enough to select only two points - entry and exit from the zone.

Another promising development of the organization Eurocontrol– the main air traffic services authority in Europe – concept Single European Sky, i.e. “Single European Sky”, its essence is to eliminate the boundaries between different sectors of air traffic control in terms of route planning, so it will be possible to fly straight across the entire European region.

Thousands of airliners take to the skies every day, carrying millions of passengers. They connect the most remote cities and countries with each other. Not so long ago, it was possible to find out information about a flight only from the information board at the airport, but an online flight map allows you to solve this problem.

Today, every Internet user has the opportunity to use an application such as an online aircraft map. This was made possible thanks to innovative ADS-B technology. It's a satellite-based flight tracking system that replaces radar-based flight control, making it easy to locate an airplane on a map using ADS-B.

Aircraft equipped with an ADS-B system send information about location coordinates, flight data such as altitude, speed, course, etc. every second via radio channel, so you see, in fact, real markers on the map. This allows for more detailed tracking of air routes in real time. That is, you and I have a full-fledged map where we can observe the movements of aircraft online in real time and for free!

Everything is in full view

This map allows you to implement information received from aircraft in the form of pictograms moving above the world map.

By clicking on the icon, you can open a window in which aircraft flights will be displayed, as well as detailed data about the flight: board number and airline affiliation, route and current coordinates, altitude and speed.

In addition, the window contains information about the ship, its photographs, and even the route of the aircraft on the world map.

If you're interested in a route, double-tapping the app will display full details about it. The map also allows you to change the scale over a wide range of values ​​and displays the number of aircraft in the sky.

Expanding horizons...

The application allows you to make various display settings. Of the most interesting, you can specify the ability to search by aircraft number and location.

Display settings

For example, on the map, you can find the boards of the S7 company, because... The company name is reflected in the tail number.

Applying filtering will display data by airline, altitude and airspeed.

You can arbitrarily specify the display mode, because in fact we see airplanes on the Google map, which can display the surface with different settings: physical, satellite and road mode.

So any plane on a Google map is just an icon superimposed on a satellite map and the movement of which is synchronized using ADS-B technology.

If you own a private jet or ship (well, what if?)

The ADS-B system can be used by commercial and private aircraft and ships to transmit their information, such as call sign, status, speed and heading, and much more, for the map to display online.
To transmit this data, you need to install a special receiver that will broadcast the signal so that your ship is displayed and the map shows it.

ADS-B operating diagram

ADS-B is gradually replacing radar as a more effective method of air traffic control. Undoubtedly, this is very convenient.

Ultimately, ADS-B will allow aircraft to fly much closer together and create more efficient routes, which will definitely reduce fuel consumption and help reduce flight times.

In places like Europe and Australia, ADS-B adoption is well underway, with most aircraft using it. North America is a little behind at the moment, but will undoubtedly catch up in the future. Equipping with this technology is showing slow but steady growth.

In this regard, in Russia everything is not so rosy. Airplanes with the Russian mark are not very common. The map clearly shows the number of air transportations in our country and in developed countries. Civil aviation has been gradually declining since the times of the Soviet Union; the high cost of domestic flights, compared to developed countries, is enormous. Flights to European and Asian countries and resort destinations are popular.

Currently, the more pressing problems of airlines are fleet renewal, travel incentives, and the like, and equipping all aircraft, both passenger and commercial, with an ADS-B system is out of the question. We hope this will be corrected in the future, which will allow us to see more ships flying our flags.

Additional features

The map also has a useful option - overlaying weather conditions and cloud cover. It is worth noting that the application saves previously received data, which allows you to reproduce the aircraft’s path on the map for the required time interval

An online aircraft movement map is a convenient tool and will prove to be an excellent assistant when doing business or simply waiting for loved ones to return from a trip.

Scheme of flights served by the airport

Among other things, we can show you something quite interesting, namely the number of flights served by each airport in the world. You just need to find the area of ​​your residence, or any other, and click on the airport icon with the cursor; large airports (Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle, Kennedy) look like a massive bright spot. And you will see many bright lines that represent the trajectories of the routes along which the aircraft serviced at the airport fly. Like the map of flying planes, this service is based on the Google Earth application. However, the aircraft flight on the map is updated every second, but here it simply displays existing information.

After the first flight of the Wright brothers, which took place back in 1903, the first commercial flight took off only in 1914. And despite the fact that it was a commercial flight, the aircraft did not have a restroom, which appeared only 5 years later. Today, the route map shows about three thousand aircraft in the sky!

If you believe the statistics, then out of 100 people, three are not so much afraid of flying, but suffer from aerophobia, but today, apart from long flights, there are no quick ways to see the whole world. Whether by water or by land, travel takes quite a long time, and looking at the app, it seems that the flight does not take that much time, but boarding, security screening and check-in for the flight take quite a lot of time.

Even if you are terrified of flying in an “aluminum can” at a speed of about 1000 km/h at an altitude of 12 km, then professional psychologists advise not to fly, and if you still have no choice, then before the flight you should drink an infusion of valerian. And don’t forget that you should avoid visiting Duty-Free stores because... It is highly undesirable to consume alcohol, coffee and even sweets during the flight. All these products only increase your feeling of fear.

Smoke trail in the form of an angel

If you are not worried about speed and altitude and you trust the pilots, then during the flight you may remember that one of the most popular aircraft, the Boeing 767, contains about 3 million different parts. And these parts are made almost all over the world: the central parts of the wings are made in Southern California, some parts of the fuselage are made in Japan, and the flaps are made in Italy.

Remember that not only women are afraid of rodents. One day during a flight, passengers were lucky enough to see... a mouse in the Boeing cabin. The crew made an emergency landing because of a small, gray cheese lover. The pilots were afraid that the mouse would simply chew through some important cable. As a result of this small but unpleasant misunderstanding, all passengers had to spend the night at the hotel, and the crew was lucky enough to hunt the unlucky rodent all night with cheese and mousetraps. However, despite the high level of intelligence and perseverance, the crew admitted their own powerlessness; they could not catch the mouse! The situation was saved by several brought cats, who dealt with the mouse quite easily and naturally.

An angel in the sky created at an air show by fighter jets firing flares.

Let's look at the numbers

The maximum altitude that the aircraft managed to conquer was 37,650 m. Back in 1977, our Soviet pilot was able to reach it on an airplane that was manufactured at the Mikoyan design bureau.

The maximum height from which a person was unfortunate enough to fall and survive is 10 kilometers 160 meters! This happened during a plane crash that occurred in 1972. Then, the flight attendant miraculously managed to survive and at the same time set this sad record.

Other Google services And . Therefore, if you are interested in this application, then these services will also appeal to you.

Visualization of air traffic over Europe

Have you put your family or friends on board the plane and are looking at your watch in agonizing anticipation, worrying, worrying while the plane is in the sky? Or, having purchased air tickets and arrived at the airport, are you nervous about the bad weather at your destination? How the plane moves during the flight, whether the flight will be delayed, and other questions concern everyone at this moment. Meanwhile, modern technologies already make it possible to track aircraft flights in real time. There is an online map of aircraft flights, on which you can observe the positions of aircraft from almost any gadget. It shows the movement of aircraft in the sky online, and you can watch this not only useful, but also simply fascinating spectacle, knowing the flight number and looking at the screen.

Now there are many technical opportunities to monitor a flight in real time; flight tracking is carried out by special services. Let's talk about this in more detail.

How is an aircraft tracked online?

In order to find out where the plane is flying, the status of the flight, see the altitude and track the speed of the planes, there is modern technology that allows you to track planes in real time. The ASD-B system is an aircraft radar that is used to track the routes of flying aircraft and subsequently collect data. The data forms the basis for services; they allow you to see aircraft online.

Today, the following services provide the opportunity to observe the characteristics of aircraft movement online in real time and view the flight status:

• Flytradar24;
• Radar Box 24;
• FlightAware;
• PlaneFinder.

They all work online and track the location of aircraft on the map. In practice, the system works as follows. The bulk of modern aircraft have transmitters (ads-transponders) that transmit data about the position of the aircraft along the route. Ground stations around the world work to receive this signal data, thus creating an online map.

Moreover, the network of such receivers today is so wide that even aircraft not equipped with these ADS-B transmitters are still reflected online.

How the system works can be seen using the example of the most popular service currently using this technology - flightradar24.com. This site does not yet work in Russian, but its functional content is quite accessible. So, the plane map is presented here in real time, the aircraft on the map are shown in the form of moving icons.

The online aircraft radar gives a complete picture of what is happening and an assessment of the current location on the route, regardless of which airline the flying aircraft belongs to. By simply clicking on the icon you will find a lot of information you need, including:

• climb rate and speed;
• aircraft serial number;
• point of departure and arrival;
• airline affiliation.

The service also allows you to monitor weather conditions in a given location. At the same time, flight data is updated every second, which is noticeable on the monitoring board.

How to track a plane by flight number

Many users usually search for the aircraft operating the flight by flight number. Programs of many services, including flytradar, allow you to do this quite simply. How to find a plane by flight number? This happens in just a few steps and in real time:

• In the search box, enter the number of the flight you are interested in. First, the site will display all currently possible flight options on planes flying under the same number. Choose yours;
• If you find a flight you are interested in, click on the airplane icon;
• A virtual map appears, on which we monitor the movement of the desired board in interactive mode.

The convenience of this service lies in the fact that it can track a lot of other useful information: from the flight schedule to the routes of aircraft that have already landed.

How to use the site's features

Of course, most often a website with a service is used to view the flight pattern of the desired vessel, when they are waiting for a plane with relatives, etc. There are other applications of the capabilities of new technologies, when they work in the interests of surveillance, control over the movement of certain persons. There are jokes among young people that use the tracker. To make access to programs easier, today modern and convenient mobile applications have been developed for iPads, Androids and other mobile devices and phones.

By the way, on the above-mentioned site you will find the option of tracking an aircraft from Android and IOS for a small fee (in the first case the price will be 149 rubles, in the second – $3.99). These links allow you to purchase an aircraft tracking app directly from your tablet or smartphone.

Modern technical capabilities make it possible, in general, to quite simply and conveniently track the positions of aircraft in real time, see and observe what is happening in the sky, and do this at an affordable price.

Video

Details Oleg Nekhaev

EThat, without any exaggeration, it is an amazing resource. You begin to have such unusual and versatile information, as if someone gave you permission to become the world's air traffic controller. And now you see in real time the flights of civil aircraft on any routes, and assess the situation at the world’s airports. You can even see unannounced special flights and flights of presidential aircraft. Previously, such information was strictly secret. Now it is publicly available. How does this system work?

Previously, air traffic was tracked only by radar, and data was transmitted exclusively through communications dispatcher and crew, then at the end of the last century automatic radio transponders began to be installed on new aircraft. Their information about aircraft parameters could be received anywhere, using small stations, the number of which began to rapidly increase around the world.

Today, such special detention centers work everywhere. They are only found in hard-to-reach regions and deserted places. And taking into account the fact that these electronic devices can be purchased by ordinary citizens, this network today quite richly covers almost the entire globe. For example, in the countries of the European Union or the USA, any movements in the sky will be tracked, as long as the transponder is working on the aircraft. ATTENTION! Displaying aircraft movements requires time to load data. After the session ends, if necessary, reload the page.

CHECK: BELOW - AIR TICKETS THAT ARE BUYING

Peculiarities. It is necessary to take into account some nuances. The map above, as a rule, will not display flights of older modifications of aircraft, for example, Boeings (727, 737-200, 747-100, 747-200, 747SP), An-2, An-26, An-32, Tu-134, Tu-154, Il-62, Yak-42 (except for some modifications - “M”), L-410.

Recommendations. By moving the map with the cursor and scaling it with the mouse wheel, you can move to the region of interest to you. If you hover over the silhouette of an airplane, it will change color. Left-click and a panel will open from which you can find out the name of the airline operating the flight, flight number, airport of departure and arrival, type of aircraft ( Type) , height ( Altitude) in feet (1000 feet = 0.3 km) and flight speed (ground speed ) in knots (one knot is equal to 1.852 km/h), scheduled departure and arrival times (respectively -- departure and arrival ) ,actual departure and arrival times (actual and estimated).

On the diagram map itself you can see the track line of the previous movement of the aircraft, which changes color depending on the altitude level. The color matches are shown below. In places where there is no data (territories remote from civilization, where there are no receiving radio stations), the flight path is marked with a dotted line.To conveniently continue viewing the map, close the left column(you may have to click on the silhouette of the activated airplane to do this). Silhouette "fountain" on an orange background, a circle indicates the location of ash emissions from volcanoes and the direction of distributiondangerous sandy clouds.

Explanations. Those who track airplane flights are often startled when the aircraft symbol disappears on the map. Once again, it should be clarified that the display of the silhouette on the diagram depends on the availability of information from the transponder and its receipt by the ground receiver. If there is a failure in this chain, the silhouette will disappear. There are large problem areas over the oceans, deserts, Siberian taiga, jungles, arctic spaces, where there are no receiving stations at all. The silhouette can disappear several tens of meters above the ground. Although, often the plane is perfectly tracked even when on the runway, during taxiing, takeoff and landing. Flights of helicopters and military vessels are not displayed at all, with very rare exceptions.