Links to upcoming flights

When a flight plan is filed, a “Scheduled” entry shows up in FlightAware, but if you click that flight it throws an error saying the flight has to depart before it can be tracked.

I’d really like to be able to send people a link to a particular flight (instead of a particular airplane) so they can follow me if they get the link in time, or see my flight path for that particular flight if they get the link after I land. I realize that due to the way FA links to an individual flight (using the departure time) would need to be changed. :frowning: So, I thank you in advance if you’re able to add this to the list of features. Thanks!

FlightAware is a flight tracker so, by definition, you can’t track a flight until it has actually flown.

Why not just let people know what aircraft you’ll be flying and let then tell them to look at the flight after your departure?

Maybe I am missing something in the above???

Are you talking about a GA flight? If so, what’s wrong with the tail number of the airplane you plan to be on? IFR flight plans from my experience show up one hour prior to departure and once I have checked in with ATC, flight Aware does it’s magic and your person can track you…

For commercial, the link to a flight that hasn’t left will update once the wheels go up, so you can send a link to that flight prior to departure. The status will change once the wheels go up and your person can track you

Flights don’t get shown until usually one hour prior to departure from what I have seen in Flight Aware.

You also may want to point the person to a link similar to flightaware.com/live/airport/KJAN/departures where it shows all departures scheduled within the hour.

Hopefully this answers your question???

Allen

Right. Just give them the “main page” link for your aircraft and it will always show the most current flight. You don’t have to have a special link for each flight unless you want to view past flights.

I’d like to be able to pull up the flight to see the planned routing, altitude, etc… which is all available if you could open the window the original poster mentioned.

Yes, I’m talking about a GA flight. Basically, I’d like to send people a link saying “Hey, here’s a link to my flight home in the Seneca” and if they see it after I make the flight, it’s still showing MY flight, not the three charter flights that happened after my flight. The only way to do this right now is to say “Here, watch me at ” and then when I get home, send something else that says “OK, here was my flight.”

Hope this makes more sense.

Easily done as suggested by cfijames…

Just go into the flight history of the tail number and click on the link.

For example flightaware.com/live/flight/N1943L is my own tail number.

Go to activity log on the lower portion of the screen and the leg of the flight you would be interested in will be in that section.

Note, the flight must be current for non members of Flight Aware.

Since I have not done an IFR flight as of recent, you may not see my prior flights unless you log in.

Allen

The proposed route is available as mouseover text on the word “Scheduled”.

Woops, I forgot! Thanks! :unamused:

No, it won’t… You cannot click on that link and bring up the flight until the flight has departed, making it rather difficult for me to send said link to people prior to departure - It simply doesn’t exist. (Note that when you click one of the past legs, the departure time is part of the link - That would obviously have to change.) Until the flight has departed, clicking on the leg (which will show up as “scheduled”) throws an error, saying you can’t track the flight until it has departed.

At this point, I’d be happy if I could manage to explain the problem so people could understand it. I feel like I’m speaking a foreign language or something. :open_mouth: :frowning:

Let’s go this route… How is the flight plan filed? Are they filing KABE to KDEF to KGHI or are they filing KABC to KGHI with a through clearance through KDEF from ATC?

Both of the above take the same path, but the first one are seperate flight plans (2) and the second one is only ONE flight plane using the airports as quick turn stops.

A through clearance (pass through) is one where ATC knows you are doing a quick turn around and you maintain your transponder code, drop your passengers off and take back off. This is done at airports where the airpspace can be closed for a period of time with no interruption to traffic flow. The flight plan is one plan for multiple stops and filed as one plan.

Soooo… for someone to see your leg of the flight, in the first scenerio, having two different flight plans, it would be in the history portion of the flight aware page should you have been on the abc to def leg of that flight once the second leg is opened by ATC.

If the flight plan is the second scenario, this is the only time I could see you getting off the plane and not showing up in the history. Even though the plane may have landed and dropped off passengers, the flight plan is only using the intermediary airport as a waypoint.

Like Dami said, the maps only show past and current flights, not future flights. Everything you have indicated in your writings have been for past flights as you seemed to have gotten off the plane in your descriptions and want to show that leg of the flight.

Also note, for past flights, you can pull up altitude and speed info under the tracking link. Could that be what you are looking for?

Allen

What I want to do, is send people a link before the flight, and have it remain valid after the flight. The only link that I can send before the flight is the link to the airplane, but after I’m done flying, someone else may be flying the airplane somewhere else entirely.

So basically, the idea is to be able to send ONE link BEFORE the flight, and have people both track my flight while I’m in the air, and see my flight path after I’m on the ground. I can’t send a link to the particular flight beforehand, and if I send them a link just to the plane they may end up seeing someone else’s flight.

Send them the link to the page for the aircraft’s N number and tell them to click on the DATE you will be/are flying!

If the aircraft makes more than one flight on the subject day, you’ll have to mention the airports you’re leaving from and arriving at in order for them to see the correct track.

This can’t be done currently, and that is unlikely to change any time soon. The link to a specific flight is based on the actual departure time, which can’t be known ahead of time. Trying to guess based on proposed departure time would be a nightmare, especially with airlines and GA pilots filing multiple plans for the same flight.