Where is my plane

Free · works offline · nothing sent anywhere

Where is my plane right now?

An in-flight tracker for nervous flyers. Your position on a map, altitude, speed, time to landing and a plain explanation of what the aircraft is doing — from your phone's GPS, in airplane mode.

Open the tracker

Or watch a simulated flight first.

Before boarding

Open the page once while online, choose your flight, allow location. Add it to the home screen so it opens like an app.

In the air

Airplane mode on, Location on, phone near the window. The first GPS fix can take a few minutes; then it updates every second.

What you get

Position and route on an offline map, altitude, ground speed, heading, distance and time to landing, and what each phase feels like.

Questions nervous flyers ask

Does GPS work in airplane mode?
Yes. Airplane mode switches off the radios that transmit (mobile, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth). GPS only receives, so the phone can still work out where it is. Keep Location switched on and hold the phone near the window: the signal comes from satellites and needs a view of the sky.
Does this need an internet connection during the flight?
No. Open the page once while online so the map, airports and app files are stored on the phone. From then on everything runs locally; nothing is sent anywhere.
How does it know the phase of the flight?
From the GPS alone: ground speed, altitude and how fast the altitude is changing. Take-off, climb, cruise, descent, approach and landing each have a recognisable pattern. It is an estimate, not the aircraft's own instruments.
How long until landing?
The time shown is the straight-line distance to the destination airport divided by your current ground speed. Real routes and approaches are longer, so expect the actual landing a few minutes later than the estimate.
Is turbulence dangerous?
Uncomfortable, yes; dangerous to the aircraft, no. Airliner wings are tested to bend far beyond anything the air can do. The main risk in turbulence is to people who are not strapped in, which is why the seat-belt sign matters.