Link to let friends track my flight tomorrow?

VWGhiaBob

VWGhiaBob

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VWGhiaBob
Tomorrow I have my longest cross country ever...Van Nuys to beautiful Clear Lake (Lampson Field) California, more than 350 NM's.

I know if I file and open a flight plan, my friends can monitor my progress on Flight Aware. But what about if I just use flight following? Can they still follow me? I could swear that at least once, I was able to call up an entire flight on which I didn't file a plan.

Also, if I recall, there's a way to play back ATC transmissions after my flight.

I don't recall how to do either one of these. Can anyone help?

(Typically I file a flight plan to get a briefing and have a record of the flight, but I never open it, since I'm always in communication with ATC the whole way.)

If anyone wants to follow me, I'm in a Cirrus SR22, N605CD. It's a rental, and I don't even want to think about what this trip is going to cost!
 
For me, flight following shows up in flight aware without a flight plan. That's how my wife checks up on my trip progress.
 
In my experience:

The only way to reliably show up on FlightAware is being on an IFR flight plan.

Opening a VFR flight plan means very little. Getting flight following can help, but isn't a consistent way of getting on FlightAware. Whether or not you're tracked seems to be affected by what ATC facility you make contact with (I'm guess it has something to do with how that facility puts VFR traffic in the computer).

As a VFR pilot, if this is a capability you're really interested in having, something like a SPOT GPS tracker is probably your best bet.
 
bqmassey said:
In my experience:

The only way to reliably show up on FlightAware is being on an IFR flight plan.

Opening a VFR flight plan means very little. Getting flight following can help, but isn't a consistent way of getting on FlightAware. Whether or not you're tracked seems to be affected by what ATC facility you make contact with (I'm guess it has something to do with how that facility puts VFR traffic in the computer).

As a VFR pilot, if this is a capability you're really interested in having, something like a SPOT GPS tracker is probably your best bet.
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Agree.
 
My first XC as a student pilot was to Lampson! Recently I made the trip down to Santa Paula in a cessna 152, it was an awesome flight, even better if you go up the coast.
 
bqmassey said:
In my experience:

The only way to reliably show up on FlightAware is being on an IFR flight plan.

Opening a VFR flight plan means very little. Getting flight following can help, but isn't a consistent way of getting on FlightAware. Whether or not you're tracked seems to be affected by what ATC facility you make contact with (I'm guess it has something to do with how that facility puts VFR traffic in the computer).

As a VFR pilot, if this is a capability you're really interested in having, something like a SPOT GPS tracker is probably your best bet.
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Pretty much any time I have a squawk I have a track, although there have been dropped sections where I was below radar and expecting pick up on the other side, sometimes it picked back up, and sometimes it didn't. I have observed anomalies in my track data though.
 
Henning said:
Pretty much any time I have a squawk I have a track, although there have been dropped sections whe I was below radar and expecting pick up on the other side, sometimes it picked back up, and sometimes it didn't. I have observed anomalies in my track data though.
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I find that about 25% of my vfr flights where I request flight following I show up on Flight Aware. Most of these trips are Phx area to Tucson though and that might have something to do with it.
 
bqmassey said:
In my experience:

The only way to reliably show up on FlightAware is being on an IFR flight plan.

Opening a VFR flight plan means very little. Getting flight following can help, but isn't a consistent way of getting on FlightAware. Whether or not you're tracked seems to be affected by what ATC facility you make contact with (I'm guess it has something to do with how that facility puts VFR traffic in the computer).
Click to expand...

My experience matches bqmassey's.

Note also that if you take FF and do show up in FlightAware, and then you cancel FF a few miles from your destination, your ground track will also stop short in FA, which might freak out whoever's stalking following you.

Just be sure to brief them well and make sure they understand that whatever info they get from FA is gravy, and not to panic if they see your track suddenly stop halfway or just short of the destination.
 
What Brandon said. Boy one that have a fantastic flight. In an SR22 you should get that flight done in no time.
 
I contacted flight aware. They said:

"[FONT=&quot]Hello Bryan,[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Thank you for contacting FlightAware and unfortunately were only able to track IFR flights at the moment due to FAA regulations. Also every now and then a VFR flight will make it through the FAA feed but this rarely happens. "[/FONT]
 
madtrader said:
For me, flight following shows up in flight aware without a flight plan. That's how my wife checks up on my trip progress.
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Not always, in my experience, if I get FF from an approach controller, and it starts with 0, it doesn't show up, only if I get it from ATC.
I usually try ATC first but sometimes they're too busy.
 
From my experience, if the controller inputs the information into the FDIO, it will show on flightaware
 
JC150 said:
From my experience, if the controller inputs the information into the FDIO, it will show on flightaware
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Same for me... I usually request FF on the ground with the tower before taxi. Every time I have done this I was able to see my track on flightaware. On the flip side, everytime I have left a non-towered field and picked up FF in the air the flight didn't show up. Has to have something to do with how they enter the data into the system.
 
With that destination, you'll have radar dead spots if your altitude isn't high enough. It's in a mountain valley with lots of moderate terrain around. You also may find dead spots over Grapevine due to terrain.

Even if Flight Aware shows you, a radar dead spot is a guarantee you're going to drop off.

You MAY get pieces of transmissions from liveatc.net, but it will not be anywhere near complete. Many dead spots there. Even at an airport, I've heard quite a lot of one sided conversations.

It's better to tell your wife (right?) to expect a landing within 30 minutes of your ETA, and call/text her when you get there. Then put it in your shutdown checklist (along with closing the flight plan) so you don't forget.

There are nicer destinations around there, unless of course the point is to visit someone or to go boating on the lake. Booneville is a charming little town within walking distance of the airport. Little River (Mendocino) has a regular shuttle to town, and it's one of the more spectacular North Coast journeys up there.
 
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FWTxPilot said:
Same for me... I usually request FF on the ground with the tower before taxi. Every time I have done this I was able to see my track on flightaware. On the flip side, everytime I have left a non-towered field and picked up FF in the air the flight didn't show up. Has to have something to do with how they enter the data into the system.
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Ahh, that may be why, I always get my squawk from clearance delivery on the ground.
 
I recommend you don't go direct, and go via Santa Barbara, and Big Sur, then probably along the east side of the SFO bravo. Much more interesting things to see out the window.
 
Flightwise can track VFR flights on flight following (with a discrete transponder code) but only retains the info for 6 hours. VFR flight plan makes no difference.
 
Yes, I have had a couple of my flights appear on FlightAware while flying on VFR Flight Following; however sometimes I haven't seen them come up, not sure the reason. I would say if you get the controller to identify you and activate flight following it should go on FlightAware, then just show your friends how to watch your progress! Good Luck!
 
The presence of my track on FlightAware has alway been somewhat of a mystery so I got to looking at a few VFR flights I flew back in April (everything since April has been IFR). While this is less than conclusive evidence, for me, it seems that anything that involves Denver Center or departing an area outside of Denver Approach's airspace results in a track on FlightAware. Anything that originates from Denver Approach results in no track.

4/4/14 EIK-CYS - no track (picked up Flight Following in the air from DEN departure)
4/4/14 CYS-EIK - tracked (requested flight following from CYS tower)
4/8/14 EIK-TAD - tracked (Requested FF from DEN departure, transitioned Denver B, Colorado Springs class C, Pueblo class D, and the track only shows up once handed off to ZDV center)
4/8/14 TAD-EIK - tracked (requested FF from ZDV center, tracked all the way to destination through aforementioned C, D, and B airspace)
 
FWTxPilot said:
Same for me... I usually request FF on the ground with the tower before taxi. Every time I have done this I was able to see my track on flightaware. On the flip side, everytime I have left a non-towered field and picked up FF in the air the flight didn't show up. Has to have something to do with how they enter the data into the system.
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I debunked my theory on this yesterday. I took off from FWS and received FF from the tower. This leg was on FlightAware, http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N717CE/history/20140726/1307Z/KFWS/KJDD.

Then I took off from JDD and picked up FF with ZFW and this was also on FlightAware, http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N717CE/history/20140726/1623Z/R UIM 248 15/KTKI.

The last leg from TKI back to FWS I picked up FF with the tower and my squawk code began with a 0 and the leg is not on FlightAware. So I was wrong.

bqmassey said:
In my experience:

The only way to reliably show up on FlightAware is being on an IFR flight plan.

Opening a VFR flight plan means very little. Getting flight following can help, but isn't a consistent way of getting on FlightAware. Whether or not you're tracked seems to be affected by what ATC facility you make contact with (I'm guess it has something to do with how that facility puts VFR traffic in the computer).

As a VFR pilot, if this is a capability you're really interested in having, something like a SPOT GPS tracker is probably your best bet.
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Based on this and what 6PC heard from them by calling I would agree that this is the best way to guarantee friends can track you.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I contacted flight aware. They said:

"[FONT=&quot]Hello Bryan,[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Thank you for contacting FlightAware and unfortunately were only able to track IFR flights at the moment due to FAA regulations. Also every now and then a VFR flight will make it through the FAA feed but this rarely happens. "[/FONT]
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What regulation(s)? Anyone know?

I have had dozens and dozens of VFR flights tracked...
 
If I leave my phone on during a flight, Google's location history shows my track afterward. I'm not completely certain it gets the information as I'm flying rather than getting the accumulated information after I land. But if it's in real time, you could use location sharing to let others follow your track.
 
Post Mortem from the OP!

As much as I hate to use the word "mortem" in a flying post, thought I'd let folks know what "actually" happen on my 2.5 hour flight from KVNY to Lampson Field...

On the way TO Lampson, they followed me until I descended below radar 10 min from landing. I checked in with So Cal right after take off. It's all on Flight Aware.http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N605CD

Funny...one friend (a pilot) got concerned when my tracking ended before the destination. Good advice above!

On the way home, I checked in with Oakland Flight Center for tracking the whole way home to Van Nuys. There's not a trace of this flight!

The mystery continues...why one way and not the other?
 
I did a Pilots N Paws flight last weekend and got flight following specifically so that they could track me...at least that is how it USED to work. No tracks at all showed up. I picked up FF in the air from Wichita to Tulsa. I used clearance delivery for the Tulsa to KS and the KC to Wichita legs. Nothing showed up.

Jim
 
For reliable live tracking 100% of the time the best way is InReach/SPOT/SpiderTracks. Flightaware is always dodgy with VFR, and IFR tracking won't show up in areas with radar gaps.
 
My experience has been that if you get flight following that will cause you to be handed off to a center controller or from one TRACON to a different TRACON, you'll most likely be entered into the system. The alternative is that you are receiving what I'd call local flight following from a single TRACON facility. They don't always enter your info into the system - which is what FlightAware seems to draw from.

If they cancel your FF, tell you to squawk 1200 and to contact the next controller for further FF, it means they didn't put in a strip for your flight and at least that portion of your flight may not show up on FA. But if they enter your tail number and say "radar contact" then you probably will.
 
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When I was traveling for work (2004 to 2012) I always got flight following if I didn't file IFR. I flew at least one 3 to 5 hour cross county every week, many weeks two, always crossing more than one ARTCC. Sometimes I'd show up on flightaware, sometimes I wouldn't. I'd estimate that it was 2/3 tracked, 1/3 not.

I never could determine any rhyme or reason.
 
if you cross a center boundary using FF then its much more likely than not that you will show up in Flightaware . . .

thus, in this case, if you get FF, and get it on the ground from VNY Twr its much more likely that traversing to Oakland Center airspace you will show up on FA.

The only way to guarantee it is to file IFR.
 
comanchepilot said:
if you cross a center boundary using FF then its much more likely than not that you will show up in Flightaware . . .
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I don't think that's the case where I've regularly flown. Short flights all in one ARTCC had the similar hit/miss ratio as the long ones. I never could pin down a pattern.
 
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