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FlightData

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FlightData[spec,options]

returns a subset of properties for a flight or selection of flights with specifications spec.

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FlightData[spec,prop,options]

returns the value of the property prop for specifications spec.

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FlightData[spec,prop,datespec,options]

returns the value of the property prop for a specific time or time range datespec.

Details and Options

  • FlightData currently provides information on flights within the United States whose flight plans have been filed with the FAA. This includes a limited range of historical flights.
  • FlightData provides information on flights from one airport to another airport, even if the aircraft continues on to other airports under a different flight number.
  • spec can be a "Flight" entity or list of "Flight" entities, an "Airport" entity, an association with the "FlightNumber" and "Airline" keys or a route specified as a rule.
  • "Flight" entities can be found using one of the other spec queries.
  • FlightData returns information on all flights in and out of an airport when spec is an "Airport" entity.
  • For a route, the first argument of the rule is the departure airport and the second argument is the arrival airport. FlightData will return the results for all flights along that route. All can be substituted for one of the rule arguments to find all flights into or out of the specified airport.
  • Arrival and departure properties include:
  • "ArrivalAirport"destination airport for flight
    "ArrivalDelay"delay from original arrival time
    "ArrivalTime"actual arrival time
    "DepartureAirport"origin airport for flight
    "DepartureDelay"delay from original departure time
    "DepartureTime"actual departure time
    "OriginalArrivalTime"original time of arrival
    "OriginalDepartureTime"original time of departure
  • Flight status properties include:
  • "FlightDuration"duration of flight
    "FlightStatus"status of flight
    "LandedQ"whether or not the plane has landed
    "TimeSinceTakeOff"time in flight since takeoff
    "TimeToLanding"time until landing
  • Time-independent flight properties include:
  • "AircraftType"aircraft used by flight
    "Airline"airline for flight
    "FlightNumber"flight number
    "Flights""Flight" entities for spec
    "FutureFlights"flights in next 10 days for this plane or flight number
    "PreviousFlights"flights in previous 10 days for this plane or flight number
  • Time series–based properties include:
  • "Altitude"altitude of plane relative to mean sea level
    "DirectionHeading"direction of plane relative to true north
    "FlightMap"GeoGraphics map of flight
    "FlightPath"flight path
    "Position"geoposition of plane
    "RateOfClimb"rate of climb
    "Speed"speed of plane
  • Aggregate time-dependent properties include:
  • "DistanceTraveled"distance traveled
    "MaxAltitude"maximum altitude
    "MaxSpeed"maximum speed
    "MeanCruisingSpeed"mean speed, excluding takeoff or landing
    "MeanSpeed"average speed
  • By default, FlightData of a "Flight" entity returns an association of the "Airline", "ArrivalAirport", "ArrivalDelay", "ArrivalTime", "DepartureAirport", "DepartureDelay", "DepartureTime", "DistanceTraveled", "FlightDuration", "FlightNumber", "FlightPath", "FlightStatus", "OriginalArrivalTime" and "OriginalDepartureTime" properties.
  • FlightData of a route, airport or an association of an airline and flight number will return the "Flights" property by default.
  • prop can also be specified as "PropertyAssociation" or "Dataset", which return an Association of all properties and a Dataset of those properties, respectively. Lists of properties are also supported.
  • "ArrivalTime", "DepartureTime", "OriginalArrivalTime" and "OriginalDepartureTime" are returned in local time.
  • Time series results are returned in the time zone of the departure airport.
  • When possible, time series results include the arrival and departure times and values as interpreted from other properties.
  • datespec can be a single date, specified as a date list or DateObject, or a list of two such dates, defining a period of time. For single times, results are calculated for that specific time. For date ranges, results include TimeSeries where relevant (such as "Altitude" or "Speed") or are calculated over that range (such "MaxSpeed" or "FlightMap").
  • When no datespec is specified for a flight, FlightData returns results for the current local time as defined by Now. When dealing with routes and airports, results reflect flights within the current day. When possible, that day is defined in the time zone of the departure airport from midnight to the following midnight.
  • FlightData[spec,prop,airline,datespec] can be used to filter results for a route by the specified airline. The airline argument is ignored in the case of single flights.
  • The option UnitSystem is available for controlling the units of the results. The following settings can be used:
  • "Imperial"return results in imperial units
    "Metric"return results in metric units

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples  (4)Summary of the most common use cases

Find a flight between Sacramento and Seattle:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-d4gu2y
Out[1]=1

Map the flight path for the flight:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-rsotwg
Out[2]=2

Find "Flight" entities for a particular airline, flight number and specific date:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-714fbp
Out[1]=1

Obtain the "Flight" entities between two airports for yesterday:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-catf9h
Out[2]//Shallow=2

Obtain the duration of a flight from New York City to Sacramento:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-s1trxm
Out[1]=1

Get all flights out of an airport for a specific date:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-yvsqlk
Out[1]//Shallow=1

Scope  (8)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Examine all available properties:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-seafzc
Out[1]=1

Obtain all available properties for a specific flight:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-z42raj
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-pdfnxs
Out[2]=2

Find a specific property for a flight:

In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-6fc7sr
Out[3]=3

Examine the speed of a flight over time:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-9ow7iq
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-rirfnr
Out[2]=2

Examine currently scheduled departure times for Sacramento International Airport:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-d3zju7
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-qz39l5
Out[2]=2

Find the departure airports for flights arriving at Logan airport:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-v3u4if
Out[1]//Shallow=1

Explore flight times for flights from JFK to PDX yesterday:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-53cj9h
Out[1]=1

Obtain airline data on all flights into and out of Portland international Airport:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-3dkahk
Out[1]=1

Find all Southwest destinations from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-chfr3s
Out[1]//Shallow=1

Options  (1)Common values & functionality for each option

UnitSystem  (1)

Control whether results are returned in metric or imperial units:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-c837ha
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-pdch5g
Out[2]=2
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-v6wx4k
Out[3]=3

Applications  (6)Sample problems that can be solved with this function

Map flights leaving JFK airport in the morning after 5 am:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-0ul3oj
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-d9b21
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-ix4xds
In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-3ai29
Out[4]=4

Examine the altitude of flights leaving Denver:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-bet96m
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-ebn4gb

Remove flights missing takeoff information and shift the time series to a common start point:

In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-ekkwhk
In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-i8l0lk
In[5]:=5
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-cpvr0p
Out[5]=5

Explore common flight paths for flights departing Albuquerque:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-b0ea85
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-rab0ab
Out[2]=2

Examine flight departure times for O'Hare airport over a day in 10-minute windows:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-wp8zuu
Out[1]=1

Discover the relative flow of flights from JFK airport to airports across the United States:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-6vcmar
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-kcd00l
Out[2]=2

Examine the region visible for a flight from Los Angeles to New York City:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-bkqtbg
Out[1]=1

Properties & Relations  (1)Properties of the function, and connections to other functions

FlightsOverhead finds flights currently overhead and provides visualizations:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-8i6k98
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-8x4fiq
Out[2]=2

Possible Issues  (2)Common pitfalls and unexpected behavior

Flight information is not sampled consistently and in some cases may be missing for long stretches of a flight:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-73d348
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-8izhck
Out[2]=2
In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-rwfg2g
Out[3]=3

Where possible, this data is augmented with the locations and times for arrival and departure:

In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-ieouly
Out[4]=4

Queries for the current day may include missing flight path data:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-wwxvep
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-6n0mfp
Out[2]=2

Neat Examples  (3)Surprising or curious use cases

Examine the density of flights over a region:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-1v5wuf
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-d3qio3
In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-m63mwf
Out[3]=3

Explore how flight speed and altitude correlate:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-syx6a9
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-37oijy
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-00wgxt
Out[3]=3

Extract the altitude values for flights going from east to west:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-mplfcs

Compare this to the values for flights going from west to east:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-tctkg

Compare the two to discover the flight levels within the airway connecting the two airports:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/01ywa3p1o32-ynzmzi
Out[3]=3
Wolfram Research (2021), FlightData, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html.
✖
Wolfram Research (2021), FlightData, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2021), FlightData, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html.

✖
Wolfram Research (2021), FlightData, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2021. "FlightData." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html.

✖
Wolfram Language. 2021. "FlightData." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2021). FlightData. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html

✖
Wolfram Language. (2021). FlightData. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_flightdata, author="Wolfram Research", title="{FlightData}", year="2021", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html}", note=[Accessed: 19-June-2025 ]}

✖
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_flightdata, author="Wolfram Research", title="{FlightData}", year="2021", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html}", note=[Accessed: 19-June-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_flightdata, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={FlightData}, year={2021}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html}, note=[Accessed: 19-June-2025 ]}

✖
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_flightdata, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={FlightData}, year={2021}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FlightData.html}, note=[Accessed: 19-June-2025 ]}