Which Flight is that?

[glenc (Glen)]

When I see planes flying over at night I often wonder where they are from and where they are going. How can I find out?

[acropolite (Phil)]

There are flight information diplay systems (FIDS) that list incoming and outbound commercial passenger flights. For example here's the one for Launceston airport.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

You could also have a look at this Glen - it includes Casino on the map.

http://www.egph.co.uk/sbs.htm

It doesn't seem to include all the aircraft that fly over. It updates itself every 45 seconds

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Actually for some reason I don't think the link is responding at the moment (ie not live) - maybe check on it in the future.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

That's easy Glen, just marry someone who's worked in the industry, and you will have a wealth of information at your fingertips.
They'll be able to work out which flight is which because they know the arrival times for every flight, what type of aircraft it is, how many food modules are on it, how long it takes to service the flight, a slightly amusing anecdote relating a Hostie that is a regular on that flight, the last time the plane was serviced etc etc, and to top it off, they most probably have a picture of the plane in question in their photo album of aeroplanes that they've dealt with.
(hubby is ex Ansett)

[citivolus (Ric)]

The time stamp on that image is several days old. I wonder if it is really updating?

[koputai (Jason)]

The airport FIDS sites are good, but it can be difficult to work out just which flight is going over, as often the plane will be departing from and arriving at airports, neither of which is the closest one to you. For example here in Sydney I see flights going over that are departing from Rockhampton and landing at Melbourne. It takes a lot of guesswork then continuing observation to work out what's what.
However, if you grab the latest issue of Silicon Chip Magazine, they have a review of a cool little device that intercepts radar information from aircraft near you, and displays it on your PC. It also connects over the net to get info from all other users of the device around the world, so you can see data from all over. Pretty impressive, but costs $1000.

http://www.airnavsystems.com/RadarBox/index.html

Cheers,
Jason.

[glenc (Glen)]

This gives Brisbane flights but is delayed.
http://bne.webtrak-lochard.com/template/index.html

This gives Sydney flights but is also delayed.
http://syd.webtrak-lochard.com/template/index.html