Rush hour in the skies: Real time map that shows you every plane in the air right now



At any given moment there are an estimated 5,000 commercial airplanes in the skies over the United States and now there's a website that enables you to track them , in real time, on a map.

Flightradar24 makes it possible to track flights all around the world, whether commercial airliners, private jets or military aircraft.



The website's flight map is updated every couple of seconds . Using the map you can track a specific flight, mark out its route, the airport from which it departed and where it is supposed to land. You can even see its altitude and speed.



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Flightradar 24 makes it possible to track flights all around the world

About 60 per cent of the airplanes that carry passengers are equipped with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system

The information on the site can be grouped by airport, to see which flights are leaving a given airport and which planes are expected to land within the next two hours.



The site's data includes each aircrafts specs (model type, serial number and airline affiliation) and tracks its most recent flights. Alternatively, you can narrow your selection by airline and follow which aircrafts it has in operation.

Flightradar24 pulls data from the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States and the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system in other countries.

About 60 per cent of the airplanes that carry passengers are equipped with ADS-B, so the map isn’t even showing every flight there is. Even still, zooming out a bit shows a mad cluster of planes over the U.S. and Europe.

The site enables you track a specific flight, mark out its route, the airport from which it departed and where it is supposed to land

Coverage over Latin America is currently patchy because there aren't as many ADS-B responders on the ground to receive the airplane data

The information on the site can be grouped by airport, to see which flights are leaving a given airport and which planes are expected to land within the next two hours

At present the site's coverage is best over the U.S. and Europe, with South America, Africa, Asia and Australia lagging behind. That is because the site relies on about 500 ADS-B responders on the ground to receive the airplane data, reports Smithsonian.com .

In fact anyone with an ADS-B responder is invited to get involved, and you can buy your very own receiver for anywhere from $350 to several thousand dollars.

The website also offers an augmented reality iPhone app. If a plane passes overhead and you want to know where it's coming from and where it's going? You can point your iPhone in its direction and in a couple of seconds the app will provide you with all the details.



Serious flight junkies are invited to register and join chat rooms where they can discuss the system with fellow flight fanatics from around the world.

VIDEO: Watch! Real time map shows you every plane in the air RIGHT NOW