Flight Tracking
Follow named flights by flight number, callsign, or tail number.
Flight Tracking follows flights you name. They appear on the display whether or not they cross your tracking areas. Open a FlightWall in the TheFlightWall app and select Flight Tracking.
You can track five flights at once.
Add a flight
- Turn on Track Individual Flights.
- Type the identifier and select Add.
- Select Save in the device header.
Three kinds of identifier work:
| Type | Example |
|---|---|
| Flight number | UA123 |
| Callsign | UAL123 |
| Tail number or registration | N123AB, G-ABCD |
The system converts a flight number to the operating callsign behind the
scenes. When a flight number returns nothing, try the callsign instead, so
UAL123 in place of UA123.
Tracking by registration finds a specific airframe rather than a scheduled service. Both commercial and private registrations work. Registrations with a hyphen need a current version of the app.
When the flight appears and when it goes
A tracked flight reaches the display shortly before departure, usually 15 to 30 minutes ahead of takeoff. While it is in the air the display focuses on that flight instead of cycling through area results.
Thirty minutes after arrival the flight is removed and area results resume. You can change that per flight. See Auto-remove after landing below.
Per-flight settings
Tap the gear icon next to a flight for three settings that apply to that flight alone.
Auto-remove after landing. On by default. The flight leaves the display 30 minutes after arrival. Turn it off and the flight stays on the display until you remove it by hand, and returns on its own every time that flight is in the air. That is the closest thing to a standing subscription to one route. It also means the display keeps showing a finished flight until you clear it.
Show distance travelled. Adds a distance-flown figure to that flight's screen. The unit is set device-wide under Distance flown units on the Area Tracking page, not per flight.
Show plane metrics. Adds altitude, speed, heading, and vertical rate. This applies to the FlightWall Mini, which leaves the metrics off by default. The FlightWall Widescreen has room to show them and does so without the toggle.
Remove a flight
Select the red X next to the flight, then Save. Area results resume without restarting the display.
If the display is stuck on a flight that has already arrived, Auto-remove after landing is off for it. Remove it the same way.
Tracking history
The app keeps the identifiers you have tracked before, so you can re-add one without retyping it. Open Tracking History on the same page. History is shared across every saved configuration on that phone, and holds the 50 most recent entries. Select Clear all to empty it.
History is a list of flight numbers. It is not a record of past flights and cannot replay anything on the display.
What the display shows
The display shows the callsign or airline name and the route, never the tail number. Tracking by registration is a way to pick the aircraft, not a way to put the registration on the wall.
Whether the title shows the airline name or the flight number is set under Layout and templates.
When a flight does not appear
- Confirm the identifier. Try the full callsign if the flight number returns nothing.
- Some aircraft never appear. Charter operators and private owners can limit how their flights reach public tracking, and an aircraft that broadcasts no ADS-B does not appear.
- Route coverage for general aviation and private jets is thinner than for scheduled airlines, so an aircraft can appear with no origin or destination.
Sync a work schedule instead
Typing flight numbers before every trip gets old for crew. TheFlightWall Plus imports a roster and sends the flights to linked displays for you.