January 22, 2006

Airplanes! Location of all commercial flights. In motion.
  • very cool. I was trying to parse the geography of the traffic until I realised it only tracks US flights - suddenly the entire country jumped out.
  • WOW! That's really, really cool! I love that the outline of the US appears just out of the planes. Aren't some of them going quite fast, though?
  • At least 500 miles per hour. That's why I love airplanes.
  • As 4-5 am approaches watch Memphis, Tennessee very carefully. You'll see all the FedEx flights leaving in a big swarm. Most parcels are flown in there the preceding evening, sorted after midnight, then flown out nationwide before dawn. Super cool to see it on industry-grade animations.
  • It's interesting that, although the west coast gets off to a slower start in the morning, both coasts shut down pretty much in unison. Obviously east coasters work harder.
  • I shall never fly again....they are just BOUND to run into each other!
  • THIS IS SOOOOOO COOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!
  • Lonely little Salt Lake City...
  • so it seems flying is most popular between about 6 AM and 7 PM. I would have guessed overnights were more popular then this shows.
  • Very neat! The FlightAware site is also handy for tracking individual flights.
  • Can I say it? Please? PLEASE? PLUEEEEZZEEEE? I'm sayin' it. Da plane, Boss. Da plane.
  • I saw an animation of this from September 11 and 12, 2001 and that was much more amusingazing. Wait, here it is. [big animated GIF]
  • When I made the post I wondered if the site went back to 9-11. Thanks, mare. That was perfectly cool. I wonder which of the last planes were carrying the Bin Laden family?