FlightAware purchased

In other words, even more ads and even slower to load.


*sigh*
 
Well at least they weren't purchased by China ... o_O
 
That really is a Hobson's choice- which would be worse, having it purchased by China or Boeing?
 
A Boeing version would automatically not display Airbus aircraft :)
 
Spent a bunch of time with the guys from FlightAware at OSH and got a bunch of free swag. Their new subscription model of more accurate reporting for GA flights was a winner for me, well, it got $100 of my money.
 
All you ever wanted to know about FlightAware and it’s startup and how it works in a recent interview with its CEO…more to it than you think…
 
cowtowner said:
Spent a bunch of time with the guys from FlightAware at OSH and got a bunch of free swag. Their new subscription model of more accurate reporting for GA flights was a winner for me, well, it got $100 of my money.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I watched the video above and heard absolutely nothing that would make me want to pay for that subscription. maybe you can elaborate what appealed to you? I mean unless it's going to turn into a garmin pilot/foreflight competitor down the road, I found absolutely nothing appealing or useful whatsoever about it. pay for an app that can tell you the active runway? yeah, no thanks. submit your flight plan which doesn't actually file the flight plan? uh, yeah, no thanks. "fbo coordination"? what does that even mean?
 
I noticed today that FlightAware is now offering different subscription levels, which I didn't see before. The lowest level is "Aviator," which at $100 per year seems reasonable given how often I use it, so I went ahead and subscribed. That lets me see flight tracks superimposed on a sectional, which comes in handy when I want to see if I busted someone's airspace, among other things. :D
 
Food for thought…


If you already have an EFB, you already get 95% of what FlightAware does for most people. The FA crew tried hard to sell me the subscription at OSH. Sorry, no effin way. Zero value in it for me. None.

Also, if you are unaware, FA has built in latency. Not sure who or why, maybe homeland security reasons. But I am an active traffic watcher and use a Stratus at home with multiple antennas on the roof. FA is about 3-5 minutes behind real time. For the average dope, I see no issues. But what they are broadcasting in not accurate data.
 
Unit74 said:
Food for thought…


If you already have an EFB, you already get 95% of what FlightAware does for most people. The FA crew tried hard to sell me the subscription at OSH. Sorry, no effin way. Zero value in it for me. None.

Also, if you are unaware, FA has built in latency. Not sure who or why, maybe homeland security reasons. But I am an active traffic watcher and use a Stratus at home with multiple antennas on the roof. FA is about 3-5 minutes behind real time. For the average dope, I see no issues. But what they are broadcasting in not accurate data.
Click to expand...
So you're the guy all the adsb paranoids are worried about?!
 
Palmpilot said:
I noticed today that FlightAware is now offering different subscription levels, which I didn't see before. The lowest level is "Aviator," which at $100 per year seems reasonable given how often I use it, so I went ahead and subscribed. That lets me see flight tracks superimposed on a sectional, which comes in handy when I want to see if I busted someone's airspace, among other things. :D
Click to expand...

Up until recently (I assume when they went to the current pricing), a sectional as the background map was included for free.

I've had a (free) account so long it says I am a "charter member" in my account information. Not sure what that gets me, but it says I joined in 2005.
 
RussR said:
Up until recently (I assume when they went to the current pricing), a sectional as the background map was included for free.

I've had a (free) account so long it says I am a "charter member" in my account information. Not sure what that gets me, but it says I joined in 2005.
Click to expand...
Here I thought I joined a while ago. Apparently I joined in 2006 so I’m just a “Basic” member.
 
Their aviator subscription works for some people (me included). One nice feature is the ability to create a “flight intent” which in flightaware appears like a VFR flight plan with a scheduled departure and arrival time, and planned route. This information can then be automatically send to the selected arrival FBO both when the “flight intent” is created and again when the flight is in the air with an ETA. For me and for the flights I fly and FBOs I use, this feature makes the Aviator product worth it.
 
Paul V said:
Their aviator subscription works for some people (me included). One nice feature is the ability to create a “flight intent” which in flightaware appears like a VFR flight plan with a scheduled departure and arrival time, and planned route. This information can then be automatically send to the selected arrival FBO both when the “flight intent” is created and again when the flight is in the air with an ETA. For me and for the flights I fly and FBOs I use, this feature makes the Aviator product worth it.
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I’ve never felt the need to announce my arrival to an FBO. I don’t call the gas station ahead of time on the freeway nor do I send a kind message to restaurant that I’ll be there in four hours. Most they get is an attempt to call them on Unicom 30 miles out, maybe.
 
Unit74 said:
I’ve never felt the need to announce my arrival to an FBO. I don’t call the gas station ahead of time on the freeway nor do I send a kind message to restaurant that I’ll be there in four hours. Most they get is an attempt to call them on Unicom 30 miles out, maybe.
Click to expand...

Then from the sounds of it the FlightAware Aviator product isn’t for you. In my case I operate in major east coast cities and bravo airspace and would prefer to avoid fumbling around with getting the FBO on Unicom at the exact time I’m at the busiest portion of the flight. Giving them an automated heads up means they’ll be ready for me and can efficiently provide the services requested.
 
Sounds about like the same flying I do. Strange. Never had any issues other than having to wait in line because of others coming in or going out in front of me. I guess if it floats your boat, your money. Honestly, the only time I’ve ever contacted the FBO is when I wanted a car on the ramp waiting for me. Traveling light, I just had them put it in the FBO parking lot.

Most FBOs also monitor Inbound traffic. If you filed IFR, they know you are coming.
 
RussR said:
Up until recently (I assume when they went to the current pricing), a sectional as the background map was included for free.

I've had a (free) account so long it says I am a "charter member" in my account information. Not sure what that gets me, but it says I joined in 2005.
Click to expand...

I was a charter member as well. Used to get the sectional and IFR map overlay and a few other perks. Now the charter membership appears to offer nothing.
 
The product is aimed at VFR operations. It doesn’t do anything meaningful for IFR. For VFR operations it allows you to create an alternative to an IFR flight plan that can be tracked and provides automated notifications to the FBO and anyone else you designate or subscribe.

I fly a VFR helicopter on skids. It’s best the FBOs know I’m coming or the ground handler may (pretty much always) put me somewhere that doesn’t align with where I need to be. The savings in time, fuel, and life limited parts from not having to shutdown, go inside, talk to the FBO, come back out, startup and hover taxi somewhere else far exceeds the $10/ month FlightAware charges.
 
Paul V said:
Then from the sounds of it the FlightAware Aviator product isn’t for you. In my case I operate in major east coast cities and bravo airspace and would prefer to avoid fumbling around with getting the FBO on Unicom at the exact time I’m at the busiest portion of the flight. Giving them an automated heads up means they’ll be ready for me and can efficiently provide the services requested.
Click to expand...
Do you really think that will actually happen on a reliable basis? I don’t have that much faith in in..duh..viduals
 
Morgan3820 said:
Do you really think that will actually happen on a reliable basis? I don’t have that much faith in in..duh..viduals
Click to expand...

It’s worked for me more often than not so far. I don’t expect it would work everywhere or for everyone. Some FBOs don’t monitor inbound messages. Others like getting the heads up and subscribe to various services (FlightAware, FBOlink, etc).
 
RussR said:
Up until recently (I assume when they went to the current pricing), a sectional as the background map was included for free.

I've had a (free) account so long it says I am a "charter member" in my account information. Not sure what that gets me, but it says I joined in 2005.
Click to expand...
The free sectional was gone last summer, right after I suggested that they update it to show the current SFO bravo boundaries. (It's up-to-date now.)
 
Is anyone else getting multiple & duplicated flight alerts for flights from many days ago ?
 
I got an alert today from something I disabled a long time ago
 
Paul V said:
The product is aimed at VFR operations. It doesn’t do anything meaningful for IFR. For VFR operations it allows you to create an alternative to an IFR flight plan that can be tracked and provides automated notifications to the FBO and anyone else you designate or subscribe.
Click to expand...

They used to have an entire flight planning interface that would even file the flight plan for you. All of that was part of their free membership. That ship sailed long ago rather quietly. One day it was there, the next it was gone.

While it may or may not matter to you as a pilot, it does help the FBOs know what to expect for parking for the day when aircraft show up on Flightaware. Our FBO uses it a lot, and can better plan out parking arrangements for the day knowing whether to expect 10 Cessnas or 2 G650s for the day. Otherwise it may become a mad scramble repositioning aircraft to make space for the unannounced.
 
They are really slowing down the free stuff, we did 2 flights in the last 6 days and each Flightaware "alert" finally arrived in the inbox 36 hrs after each flight.
 
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