Our most asked question on social media: “What do the blue planes mean?” Blue planes indicate aircraft are being tracked by satellite-based ADS-B receivers.
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The numbers are in meters. If the plane is below 100 meters in altitude, the trail will be white. If it is above 100 meters, the trail will yellow, then green, then above 2500 meters it will become light blue, then dark blue, purple and for the highest altitude it will be red. I hope this helps.
Yellow: Aircraft displayed as yellow icons are being tracked via our terrestrial receiver network or are in an estimated position. Red: When an aircraft is displayed as red that means that you are currently following that specific aircraft on the map or that an emergency squawk is on for this aircraft.
Flightradar24 Support centerBlue: Aircraft displayed as blue icons are currently being tracked via satellite. Satellites are collecting the ADS-B signals from aircraft and transmit them to the Flightradar24 network. Space-based ADS-B tracking will be used to supplement our terrestrial receiver network.
SQUAWKing is the process of communicating between the air and the ground, the process is essential for keeping planes in the air safe and ensuring a smooth and manageable air traffic control process, both for pilots and air traffic controllers.
From 3 March 2020, ADS-B data collected by satellite was made available to all users. Aircraft located using satellite data are coloured blue on the map, and yellow if located by terrestrial receivers.
Some high profile aircraft, such as Air Force One are not displayed. Most other aircraft subject to restriction are shown as anonymized by aircraft type.
Websites such as ADSBExchange.com, FlightRadar24.com and FlightAware.com aggregate flight data in the United States and abroad using a mix of commercial and citizen-owned sensors that capture the movements of commercial, civilian and military aircraft in real time, 24 hours a day.
The most well know of these is the code 7700. This is used to indicate an emergency of any kind. A pilot will enter this when in an emergency situation - either instructed by ATC after declaring an emergency or without communication if there is no time.
The position is calculated based on many different parameters and in most cases it's quite accurate, but for long flights the position can in worst cases be up to about 100 km (55 miles) off. In settings there is an option to set for how long time you want to see estimated aircraft on map.
Military aircraft in particular are exempt from many civil rules and regulations which would see most aircraft having an active transponder and of course their operational requirements will dictate they often do. That said, ultimately, any plane CAN disable it if they wish.
A note about Estimated coverage: when you see a dashed or gray line behind an aircraft, that's estimated coverage. Colored lines indicate actual positions. When an aircraft is out of coverage, we estimate based on great circle routes to destination.