Aircraft Near Me Help

Dual Radar provides two independent animated radar displays, enabling you to monitor and compare aircraft activity in two different locations at the same time. Each radar can have its own centre, range, filter, labels, land outline and audio settings.

Feature	Use
Centre	Choose GPS, RAF airfields, USAF locations or other preset watch points.
Range	Set each radar from local coverage up to wide-area regional coverage.
Labels	Shows Military, Training and Services labels as the radar sweep paints the target.
Land	Adds a faint land/coast outline for geographic context.
Audio	Optional soft radar-style bleeps for interesting aircraft.

Sky Transit mode is intended for photographers and observers who want to identify aircraft that may pass close to the Moon or Sun from their current position. It uses your location, aircraft position, altitude, track and speed, together with the calculated Moon or Sun position.

Item	Meaning
Moon / Sun marker	Shows the direction of the selected sky object from your location. Click the marker to show or hide the popup label.
Line of sight	The dashed line from your location towards the Moon or Sun.
Projected track	Shows where aircraft are expected to move based on their current heading and speed.
Possible target	An aircraft whose predicted track may come close to the selected sky object.
Strong target	A closer predicted pass. Treat this as an estimate, not a guarantee.

Important: Transit prediction is approximate. ADS-B data may be delayed, aircraft altitude may be inaccurate, and small changes in observer position can affect whether a transit is visible.

Sun safety warning: Never look directly at the Sun through a camera, binoculars, telescope or optical sight unless you are using a properly fitted, certified solar filter designed for that equipment. Ordinary sunglasses, camera filters and makeshift filters are not safe for direct solar viewing. Sun Transit mode is for planning only.

The standard fixed-wing aircraft keeps the original map icon. Helicopter, drone/RPAS and Red Arrows use dedicated SVG silhouettes, while the colour still shows the aircraft category. On the main map, click the Aircraft Types legend to show or hide dummy test aircraft using the current live icons.

Shape	Used for
✈︎	Standard fixed-wing aircraft — original icon retained.
	Helicopter / rotorcraft.
	Drone / RPAS, including Protector/Reaper-style aircraft.
	Red Arrows / Hawk display aircraft only.

Icon Type	Description
Fixed Wing	Standard aircraft icon used for most aircraft.
Helicopter	Rotorcraft icon with visible main rotor and tail boom.
Drone / RPAS	Protector-style UAV icon used for unmanned aircraft.
Red Arrows	Dedicated Hawk T1 display aircraft icon used exclusively for RAF Red Arrows aircraft.

Colour	Category
Red	Military
Orange	Training
Green	Services (Police, Coastguard, Air Ambulance, SAR etc.)
Purple	Government
Blue	Civil

Notes:

• Icon shape identifies aircraft type.
• Icon colour identifies aircraft category.
• Red Arrows always use the dedicated Hawk T1 icon and remain a Military category.
• Drone icons are intended for UAV/RPAS aircraft such as Protector.
• Civil aircraft do not use the drone icon.
• Click the Aircraft Types legend on the map to display dummy test aircraft for checking the current icons.
• Known BBMF aircraft are shown with a separate gold ring overlay so the aircraft icon remains locked to the map.

Known Battle of Britain Memorial Flight aircraft are highlighted with a separate gold ring around the normal aircraft icon. The icon shape and colour still work as normal; the gold ring is only an additional identifier.

Display	Meaning
Gold ring	Battle of Britain Memorial Flight aircraft, including known Lancaster, Hurricane, Spitfire, Dakota and Chipmunk registrations.

The main map highlights selected transponder squawk codes with a separate Leaflet halo layer, plus list badges and popup warnings. The halo is not part of the aircraft icon, so the aircraft marker remains locked to its true map position.

Squawk	Meaning	Main map display
7700	General emergency	Red emergency halo and popup warning.
7600	Radio failure	Amber warning halo and popup warning.
7500	Unlawful interference / hijack	Red urgent warning halo and popup warning.
7004	UK low flying	Purple low-flying halo and popup warning.

Aircraft Near Me is designed to support a small, privacy-friendly supporter subscription model. The intention is to collect a token contribution for charity and running costs without storing names, passwords or email addresses on this site.

The RAF / USAF / watch-point station list is shared in both displays, this is a fixed list hard coded into the system.

Aircraft Data Sources

Aircraft Near Me displays aircraft information obtained from publicly available ADS-B and aircraft tracking data sources. Aircraft Near Me does not generate, verify or guarantee the accuracy, completeness or availability of this data. Aircraft information may be delayed, filtered, incomplete or unavailable at any time.

Acknowledgements

Aircraft Near Me would not be possible without the efforts of the aircraft tracking community and the many organisations, volunteers and developers who contribute aircraft tracking data, mapping services, aircraft photography, open-source software and related technologies.

We gratefully acknowledge the aircraft tracking community, ADS-B data contributors, mapping providers, aircraft photo contributors and open-source software developers whose work helps make projects such as this possible.

Project Information

Aircraft Near Me is an independent hobby aviation project created and maintained by Bill Mead. The site does not use tracking cookies. If hosting or data costs grow, the project may later move to a low-cost subscription or charity-support model.

Development of the project has been assisted by modern AI software development and programming tools, together with feedback and testing from aviation enthusiasts and members of the aircraft spotting community.

Aircraft Near Me is intended for aviation enthusiasts and educational interest only. It must not be used for navigation, flight planning, operational decision making or any safety-critical purpose.

Aircraft data remains subject to the terms, conditions and availability of the relevant data providers. Aircraft Near Me is not affiliated with any military organisation, government agency, aircraft operator or data provider unless explicitly stated.