Overhead and how tracking works
What's that plane, why the position lags, why the tracker and the airline disagree. How tracking works, in plain words.
- Flight Live Activities on iPhone, explainedWhat a flight Live Activity shows, why iOS ends it after 8 hours, what it does with no signal, and how to turn one off.Updated Nov 7, 2026
- Flight tracking words: wheels up, in-blocks, EDCT, ETAThe terms trackers and airlines use, in plain English, with the regulators' definitions where they exist.Updated Nov 7, 2026
- How flight trackers work, and why the position lagsWhere a dot on the map comes from, how old it is by the time you see it, and how to tell a live position from a guess.Updated Nov 7, 2026
- How to read a flight's path: altitude, speed and the step climbWhat a staircase in cruise means, how to spot a hold, why the speed line jumps, and what a normal descent looks like on an altitude graph.Updated Nov 7, 2026
- How to share a flight with the person picking you upSend a live link they can open without an account. What they need to see, and why a boarding pass photo should never be the thing you send.Updated Nov 7, 2026
- What's that plane overhead? Its own radio will tell youAlmost every airliner broadcasts who it is about once a second. How to identify one from your yard, and which aircraft won't show up.Updated Nov 7, 2026
- Why some planes leave trails and others don'tTrails form in very cold air and last only where it's humid enough for ice to grow. Three balloon soundings from one evening show the difference.Updated Nov 7, 2026
- Why the tracker and the airline disagreeA tracker usually times the wheels and an airline times the gate. Why they can differ by half an hour, and which one to believe for what.Updated Nov 7, 2026