Flightradar24

Tracking flights…

Bill: Look. A chopper just going over.

George: Does that app you have on your phone tell what it is?

Bill: Here it is. An MBB/Kawasaki BK 117.

George: Ah, the German-Japanese venture. Used a lot in rescue and police work.

Bill: Heading for the hospital. Yes, see it’s descending, now at 500 feet, hovering, landing.

________

Voice-over

Flightradar24 is an app providing realtime tracking of flights, overhead and across the world. Developed in Sweden in 2006, it uses several sources to collect data, notably crowdsourced volunteers using ground-based automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) receivers. Other sources include satellites and multilateration of Flightradar24 receivers.