Plane Finder works by picking up ADS-B plane feeds used by commercial and private planes to transmit their name, position, callsign, status and lots more.

Our servers add additional information such as departure airport, destination and photos for presentation on planefinder.net and in our Plane Finder apps.

The ADS-B data comes to us either from our own receivers or from people with receivers who share their data with us over the internet. If you are a virtual radar hobbyist we’ll be delighted to receive your data for use within the app. For more details on how you can help please see our coverage page.

ADS-B is gradually replacing radar as the most efficient method for air traffic control.

Ultimately ADS-B will enable aircraft to fly closer together and on more efficient routes meaning less fuel consumption and reduced flight times. ADS-B will also enable advanced transfer of information both to and from the cockpit.

In locations such as Europe and Australia the implementation is well advanced and the majority of aircraft use ADS-B. North America is behind currently but will catch up as the US NextGen ADS-B equipage project continues to develop.

Plane Finder is showing a slow but steady increase in planes tracked as ADS-B use continues to grow.

We know that this website and the apps are used by a huge range of people including professionals such pilots and ground crew, by plane spotters and aviation enthusiasts, and by anyone who just wants to track a friend or is curious about the planes overhead.

We hope that you enjoy Plane Finder however you use it!

Planefinder.net

The Planefinder.net website has been implemented in partnership with Something Interesting Limited. 

Something Interesting are a professional and passionate development team focused on delivering quality projects. The team like to enjoy what they do, speak like humans and have their client’s best interests at heart. They don’t believe in cutting corners and won’t compromise the quality of their work.

Something Interested are highly recommended by Pinkfroot, if you are looking for a development partner you can trust, take a look at www.somethinginteresting.co.uk for more information.