Welcome to the new version of Nantucket Memorial Airport’s (ACK) Internet Flight Tracking System – AirportMonitor v 2.0 Gold.
Here’s what’s new!
- Pause/Resume: You can now pause the flight activity, click on flights in pause mode to see who they are, then resume where you left off, (works in both live and replay mode) – useful for taking the time to find the flight you want at your own pace
- Fast Forward in replay mode lets you choose faster replay speeds, to view the flight you want quicker
- Color-coding for alternate airports – a new color for flights from nearby airports local helps clarify and sort traffic
- Helicopter identification – some helicopters, depending on their speed and flight behavior, will be identified by a black helicopter icon (helicopters that are flying like airplanes may still be identified by a black airplane icon).
- Online help page – frequently asked questions and topics are now conveniently located right on the application
If this is your first time using AirportMonitor, we recommend that you first read the material on this page to familiarize yourself with how it works. If you choose to bypass this page, you can always access the help page on AirportMonitor.
In addition, use the following link for a tutorial on "How
Nantucket Memorial Airport Operates.
Highlights
- Pause/Resume: You can now pause the flight activity, click on flights in pause
mode to see who they are, then resume where you left off (works in
both live and replay mode) – useful for taking the time to find the
flight you want at your own pace
- Fast
Forward: In replay mode you can choose various speeds allowing you to view
the flight you wish faster.
- Please note: Fast Forward works best if you don’t click too fast
between the speeds. Allow each new speed to take effect before
selecting a new one. Also, if you want to change the time of your
replay, click back to “normal” speed before entering in a new
time. Then click start again; once it starts replaying at your new
time, you can change speeds.
- Color-coding
for alternate airports: A
separate color for flights from nearby airports local helps clarify
and sort traffic
- Helicopter
identification: Some
helicopters, depending on their speed and flight behavior, will be
identified by a black helicopter icon (helicopters that are flying
like airplanes may still be identified by a black airplane icon).
- Online
help page: Frequently asked
questions and topics are now conveniently located right on the
application
- Security
measures: For safety and
security, “Current” time on AirportMonitor is 10 minutes delayed,
some information is available in replay only, and military flights are
removed. For more information on filtering in AirportMonitor, please
see details below in Filtered
Information.
- Departure
color coding: Departures
are color-coded green on AirportMonitor. It can take several sweeps of the radar before a flight is
identified positively as a departure. As a result, some departures
will be color-coded black for the first few seconds of flight, then
turn green.
Using AirportMonitor
AirportMonitor shows the flight tracks of aircraft arriving and departing to and from ACK, and from other airports throughout the region. It also shows aircraft transiting through our airspace.
Green aircraft icons represent departures from ACK
Blue aircraft icons represent arrivals to ACK
Black aircraft icons represent aircraft operating to or from another airport in the region, general aviation aircraft, or aircraft that are transiting through the region at high altitudes
Red indicates that you have selected a specific aircraft by clicking on it with your computer mouse
The size of the airplane icons is the same regardless of which type of aircraft it represents. At closer zoom levels, the size of the plane icon is larger than at wider zoom levels, to make the screen easier to view, and to simulate the effect of a changing “bird’s eye view.”
 Zoom and PAN
Just to the right of the map you will notice 5 buttons with corresponding zoom settings ranging from 5 miles to 80 miles. In order to change the preset zoom level, just click the button corresponding to the zoom level you desire.
Then using the compass (shown on your left) click the direction you desire. The middle button will bring you back to starting center point. The panning function works for the 5 mile and 10 mile (2 pans in any direction) and the 20 mile (1 pan in any direction). There is no panning for the 40 and 80 mile maps.
Remember: First select the zoom level, then pan.
General Aviation Identification
“General Aviation” (GA) is a term that
covers both small, private planes as well as corporate jets. One way these
are divided is into “VFR” (“Visual Flight Rules,” generally the
smaller, private propeller aircraft) and “IFR” (“Instrument Flight
Rules,” generally the larger private or corporate jets).
If a GA aircraft is flying “VFR,” it will
often be identified by the software as a radio frequency code “1200”
with altitude; and it will not contain aircraft type, origin or
destination (this limited information on some GA aircraft is due to the
way flight plans are filed). Air
taxi Cessna 402 flights flying “VFR” will be displayed as “General
Aviation”.
If a GA aircraft or air taxi Cessna 402 is
flying “IFR”, AirportMonitor will usually have all of the same
information fields available as for scheduled airline flights.
Helicopters are usually
represented by black helicopter icons, although they may also show as a
black airplane icon instead.
 “Current” Mode
The default view for
AirportMonitor is “Current,” which is the actual flight activity
around your airport, with a 10-minute delay for security.
When you click on a flight
in “current” mode, it will display SOME of that flight’s
identification (limited in current mode for security):
· Aircraft
type
· Altitude
“Pause”
Mode
When you click on
“Pause”, it will pause the display for viewing. You can click on any
plane icon while in pause, and it will display the available flight
information. Clicking “Restart” will pick up the flight tracking where
you left off (to get back to the current time, hit “Current”). Pause
and Resume work in both Current and Replay modes.
Replay
Mode
AirportMonitor makes all
flights available in “replay mode” and makes them available up to
three months for past flight activity to be played back at any time. This
makes it easy to review flight activity at your leisure.
Flight numbers become
active for a given flight one hour after it has first appeared on
AirportMonitor. When you click on a plane in replay mode,
“Airline/Flight number” and “Origin and Destination” airports are
added to the other information available in current mode (“aircraft
type” and “altitude”).
To operate the
replay, use the pull-down menus at the top of the page and enter the
corresponding date and time you wish (using the 24-hour clock system), and
then press the Start Replay button. To end the replay and return to the
10-minute delay mode press the “Current” button.
Replay Mode Speed
In Replay Mode
you have the option to choose the speed of the aircraft on your screen.
This is useful for "fast-forwarding" to a flight or track of
interest without waiting for it to appear in real-time. First choose the
date and time of replay; then select the playback speed you desire;
then click on "replay". You
can also adjust the speed of playback after you are already in replay
mode.
You also have
the option to in Replay Mode – it works exactly the same way as it does in
“Current” mode. (see above)
Filtered Information
In addition
to the 10-minute delay in “current” mode, AirportMonitor has other
filters designed to enhance security or, in a few select cases, protect
privacy.
Security filters
- All military/national security flights are
filtered from AirportMonitor
- As a result of the military/national security
filter, some GA aircraft may
also be filtered out, because of a similarity in the way they are
identified by AirportMonitor.
- In either case, the filter can explain why you
may from time to time notice a flight in the air, but are unable to
locate it on AirportMonitor.
Privacy Filters
- FAA requires that we remove the aircraft
identification of certain General Aviation aircraft who have been
granted a privacy waiver. These would typically be identified on
AirportMonitor by “tail number” (such as N1234). Instead, these
privacy-protected flights are identified as “ZQX.”
- All the other information about these flights,
such as aircraft type, altitude, origin and destination, will be
available as normal on AirportMonitor
.
Printing from AirportMonitor
Printing from
AirportMonitor is a simple copy-and-paste process called “Screen
Capture” or “Print Screen.” To print any AirportMonitor screen
you’re looking at, do the following:
- Select
the page or screen you want to print
- On
a laptop computer hit the Function [Fn] and the [F11 key] simultaneously to copy exactly what is on your screen at that moment
- On
a desktop computer hit the [Shift Key] and the [Print Screen]
simultaneously to copy exactly what is on your screen at that moment.
- Open
a new document in any word processing program, or any graphics program
- Select
“Paste”
- The
image of the screen you copied will appear as a single picture
- Print
(or Save, then Print, if you want to keep the image)
Help Page
Click this
button on the top right corner of the AirportMonitor page to receive
troubleshooting tips and answers to the most frequently asked questions.
A
Word about Radar
Aircraft tracking radar,
and the software that supports it, while highly reliable, is also complex.
Sometimes circumstances can interfere with the signal, causing temporary
distortions. For example, you will probably notice that an aircraft flying
directly over your airport may temporarily disappear from the screen and
then reappear away from the airport. This is due to the aircraft passing
directly over the radar antenna and the temporary loss of signal. You may
also notice aircraft icons sometimes “dropping off” and/or suddenly
doing unusual things. This is especially true in the area immediately
around your airport, but could also occur away from the airport as well.
These “ghost” aircraft are due to radar reflections around the
airport, and possibly from terrain and meteorological conditions farther
away from your airport.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS/INFORMATION
· AirportMonitor is designed to run on any
computer that supports Java Applets and JavaScript.
· A reasonable amount of memory is necessary. A minimum 64 MB of RAM is recommended.
· AirportMonitor runs best in Netscape or
Internet Explorer version 3.0 and higher. JavaScript and Java must be
enabled in your browser.
· AirportMonitor may take some time to load and
begin playing, depending on the speed of your communication link and
computer processor. The performance of AirportMonitor will be adversely
affected by slow or intermittent Internet connections.
· AirportMonitor is a resource intensive
application that is best run without any other applications open at the
same time.
· The optimal screen resolution for viewing
this site is 1024 x 768
LIABILITY
STATEMENT
THIS WEB PAGE AND THE FLIGHT TRACKING INFORMATION IS
A PUBLIC RESOURCE OF GENERAL INFORMATION. THE USE OF THIS SITE IS FOR
ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY. AIRPORT MAKES NO WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION OR
GUARANTEE AS TO THE CONTENT, SEQUENCE, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS OR
COMPLETENESS OF ANY OF THE DATABASE INFORMATION PROVIDED HEREIN. THE USER
OF THIS SITE SHOULD NOT RELY ON THE DATA PROVIDED HEREIN FOR ANY REASON.
AIRPORT EXPLICITLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. AIRPORT SHALL ASSUME NO LIABILITY FOR:
1. ANY ERRORS,
OMISSIONS, OR INACCURACIES IN THE INFORMATION PROVIDED REGARDLESS OF HOW
CAUSED; OR
2. ANY DECISION MADE
OR ACTION TAKEN OR NOT TAKEN BY THE USER OF THIS SITE IN RELIANCE UPON THE
INFORMATION OR DATA FURNISHED
To view
AirportMonitor click here.
Adobe
Acrobat™ printable version of the above ACK AirportMonitor instructiuons.
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