Real Time Chicago Airplane Tracker

[BusHunter]

There was a site I was reading about in the northwest side press. It's pretty cool, you can see the planes around Chicago from virtually any airport in a Bustracker type google viewer. Just scroll over the airplane icon with the mouse and it gives you it's info. It gives the to/from (airport codes) altitude and airline type. Even the carrier. I've always been fascinated with planes and wondered about their flight paths.  Now I need to learn the airport codes. YYC is Calgary and I think BSV is Madagascar. You can figure out most of US ones but some throw you for a loop like Florida International in Fort Myers is weird. It like R?? Don't seem to be too many big planes out right now. Well here's the site:

http://webtrak5.bksv.com/cda

Edited June 16, 2015 by BusHunter

[Busjack]

One probably has to know more about airline lingo that I do.

It did appear to show a plane coming into Palwaukee.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

I like FlightAware and PlaneFinder when I'm on my computer. I also have the FlightAware app for my phone. They're not exactly real time, but they're close. FlightAware gives you the usual stuff, and airplanes are roughly sorted on the maps. Skinny planes are narrow body planes like the 737, and the chubby looking planes are wide bodies. PlaneFinder goes even further. Not only can you see planes like FlightAware, but you can also find the registration of the plane and important dates for the plane, like first flight and delivery date. The plane icons on the map are more specific too.

[Busjack]

... FlightAware gives you the usual stuff, and airplanes are roughly sorted on the maps. Skinny planes are narrow body planes like the 737, and the chubby looking planes are wide bodies. ...

​Here it appears that the regional jets are depicted with smaller icons than United or American. General aviation is depicted, but with real small planes.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

​Here it appears that the regional jets are depicted with smaller icons than United or American. General aviation is depicted, but with real small planes.

Correct. Since a lot of regional jets are in the ERJ-145 family or the CRJ family, they are rendered as little T-tailed jets, like an actual ERJ or CRJ.

[BusHunter]

Does anything major fly out of Midway besides SW airlines? Plane after plane is SW. I did see a Delta once. All the SW's were 737's but this Delta was possibly something similar to an MD-80. I surprised with MD gone the planes were still flying until last year.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

Does anything major fly out of Midway besides SW airlines? Plane after plane is SW. I did see a Delta once. All the SW's were 737's but this Delta was possibly something similar to an MD-80. I surprised with MD gone the planes were still flying until last year.

​At this point, you'd be best looking for Delta jets, even though Southwest clearly dominates the airport. As far as I know, Delta can use their MD-80s, MD-90s, or Boeing 717s (formerly called MD-95s) for Midway. Or you could look for Delta regional jets.

[Busjack]

Does anything major fly out of Midway besides SW airlines? Plane after plane is SW. I did see a Delta once. All the SW's were 737's but this Delta was possibly something similar to an MD-80. I surprised with MD gone the planes were still flying until last year.

​Southwest got a near monopoly at Midway after it merged with Airtran.

[BusHunter]

According to the O'Hare planes MD83's are still around. So Mcdonnell Douglas lives on. (even though they are history)

[Kevin]

Does anything major fly out of Midway besides SW airlines? Plane after plane is SW. I did see a Delta once. All the SW's were 737's but this Delta was possibly something similar to an MD-80. I surprised with MD gone the planes were still flying until last year.

Porter Airlines. 

[BusHunter]

I thought at one time alot of the low cost carriers ran out of Midway. I remember ATA (now gone) and I thought Valujet might have ran out of there. JetBlue I believe ran out of O'Hare. You would think USAir would run out of midway, being from the south (I think their hub is Charlotte,NC.) but they run out of O'hare too.

Alot of Airlines seem to go out of business when they have a crash. I guess filing bankruptcy releases them from the financial obligations. (Like Peter Francis Geraci says maybe they get to keep their house and car )  I can think of TWA, PanAM, Valujet all going this way. Funny the first two were major airlines, one having roots to almost the beginning of air travel and the other among the most elite. They survived Tenerife though, maybe cause it wasn't their fault. (KLM's fault)

[Busjack]

I thought at one time alot of the low cost carriers ran out of Midway. I remember ATA (now gone) and I thought Valujet might have ran out of there. JetBlue I believe ran out of O'Hare. You would think USAir would run out of midway, being from the south (I think their hub is Charlotte,NC.) but they run out of O'hare too.

Alot of Airlines seem to go out of business when they have a crash. I guess filing bankruptcy releases them from the financial obligations. (Like Peter Francis Geraci says maybe they get to keep their house and car )  I can think of TWA, PanAM, Valujet all going this way. Funny the first two were major airlines, one having roots to almost the beginning of air travel and the other among the most elite. They survived Tenerife though, maybe cause it wasn't their fault. (KLM's fault)

​Valujet became Airtran, which was absorbed by Southwestern.

USAir is now part of American.