Everyone has a relative that is flying somewhere around the country, whether it be by commercial or private plane. It would be nice if you could be able to track that relative on your iPhone or even iPad. There are many flight tracking apps available for both the iPhone and iPad but most of them cost one, five, even ten dollars. Luckily one of the newest apps to hit the Apple App Store is FlightAware Flight Tracker (free). FlightAware is a great online website (flightaware.com) that allows the user to locate real time flights based on there flight number, tail number, or flight route. This app brings all of that functionality straight to your iPhone or iPad.
To begin searching for a flight, type in the flight number and select the airline and then choose the flight you wish to view. It will give you its current location, how long the plane has been in flight, the origin, the destination, the speed of the aircraft, the flight altitude, and a flight map of the route the plane is or has taken. You can also search by tail number. Just type in the tail number of the plane you want to search and a list will display the recent flight plans filed for that tail number. Tap on the flight plan you wish to view and it will give you the exact same information as before. If it just so happens that you do not know either the flight or tail number, you can type in the origin and destination or choose from the list provided.
Another feature of FlightAware Flight Tracker is being able to track a specific airplane or airport. Just press the “add” button on the bottom of the aircraft or airport you wish to add and FlightAware will add them to the “MyFlightAware” tab. You can also look at the nearby planes by pressing the “Nearby” tab. FlightAware can also send alerts to the user by adding a FlightAware account and logging in.
All of these great features are in an application available for both the iPhone and the iPad for free. It is the best free app for any frequent flier, people who know frequent fliers, or just an airplane enthusiast. The FlightAware Flight Tracker app for the iPhone and iPad is an app that I would rate five stars. With its simplistic user interface and great functionality I do not know why anyone would pay for any other flight-tracking app.