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Every plane you see in the sky – you can now follow it from the cockpit in 3D
- coolwulf 6mo agoCreator here. I posted Flight-Viz a few days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603966 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603966) and the feedback was great. Since then I added a cockpit mode that follows any liveflight with real 3D terrain. How to try it: go to flight-viz.com, click any plane, then click "Cockpit" in the action buttons. You'll get a first-person view wit h real buildings, terrain, atmosphere, and a HUD showing altitude/speed/heading — all driven by live ADS-B data. Hao
- _HMCB_ 6mo agoThis is so cool. But on iOS, clicking the plane flashes the mini modal/popup but the it immediately disappears. There no way, on touch, to keep it open long enough to click a cockpit view button, assuming there is one.
- jimmydddd 6mo agoI was able to do it on my iPhone. 1) Click on a plane on the map. 2) Click on "menu" at the bottom. 3) Scroll down to the bottom of info window and click on "cockpit."
- _HMCB_ 6mo agoWhoa! That was it. I expected a more prominent button for cockpit. I actually just thought those were labels. Thanks big time.
- simooooo 6mo agoCan you make it so "exit cockpit" navigates to a route rather than execute a back on the browser, as it takes me back to the hacker news page when I push it. Also took me about 5 minutes to find the cockpit view button after I'd selected a flight but that might be a me problem :)
- croisillon 6mo agoi came here to comment on the exit=back too and i'd like metric measurement too
- coolwulf 6mo agoThank you for the suggestion and I just modified that behavior.
- dylan604 6mo agoExit Cockpit disabled; No parachutes available
- dzhiurgis 6mo ago> Also took me about 5 minutes to find the cockpit view button after I'd selected a flight Same here. Should be more prominent for a brand new feature!
- hbcondo714 6mo agoGorgeous! I can search flights at LAX but I don't see the smaller airports around it like SNA or LGB listed. Any chance those could be added? Also, is there by chance a way to do historical flights?
- coolwulf 6mo agoI just added smaller airport. (for now I turned off airport overlay as default since it get a little clutterd but you can turn it on. or you can search the airport code in search bar)
- hbcondo714 6mo agoThank you!
- d3Xt3r 6mo agoAny chance of adding real-time sky and weather effects, using satellite imagery and weather data?
- OSS542 6mo agoDoesn't seem to work for me. I just get star field displays no matter what I do.
- venusenvy47 6mo agoIt's really cool. I'm a little unsure if the website is overloaded or my browser is not rendering it properly. If I zoom in on an area and try to click on a plane in flight, sometimes I can select a plane, but sometimes I can't. Even for a plane that I was able to select a few seconds before, if I click away and try to click again, it won't select.
- coolwulf 6mo agoYou need to click on the plane icon, not the label.
- RichardHesketh 6mo agoThe FlightRadar24 app has had this feature for quite some time. I like your implementation though - it’s very easy on the eye.
- metabagel 6mo agoPerhaps this should be submitted under "Show".
- wkjagt 6mo agoCreator posted it as Show HN last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603966 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603966 Current post is by someone else
- mikestew 6mo agoCurrent post is from the creator (not that I particularly care one way or the other): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47694065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47694065
- deadlinermusic 6mo agoLove this. How do you modify the flight number?
- gramie 6mo agoIf you click on a city's name, you can see a list of all flights arriving and departing. Some of the arriving ones will be in flight, and you can click on the flight number to view it, then "Cockpit" view to see (roughly) what the pilots are seeing.
- bigfudge 6mo agoIs it possible to pan?
- gorfian_robot 6mo agoI wish it had all the small aircraft not just commercial flights
- Markoff 6mo agoCromite on Android 15 stock Pixel ROM: Error constructing CesiumWidget. Visit http://get.webgl.org http://get.webgl.org to verify that your web browser and hardware support WebGL. Consider trying a different web browser or updating your video drivers. Detailed error information is below: RuntimeError: The browser supports WebGL, but initialization failed. Error at new kL (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js:75:137 https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at DEe (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js:3920:51136 https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new dd (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js:3920:45550 https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new li (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js:15065:1043 https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new Go (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js:15442:8420 https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new ji...
- Chrisszz 6mo agoCommands are not that handy but from someone that has the flying in his heart since he was child I must admit that it's cool to have the cockpit view
- rogerrogerr 6mo agoIf you go hang out at your local small airport on a weekend, I guarantee someone will give you a ride. In the US, at least.
- nomel 6mo agoYou can get "introductory" flights for pretty cheap, where they let you fly a bit.
- macintux 6mo agoI bought one for my father years ago as a gift, and was able to ride along. A great day.
- lastdong 6mo agoThis is so impressive, love it! A bit of feedback: Clicking exit cockpit goes back to the previous page (in this case this HN thread). Not sure if just me, but I really had to search hard for the actions under menu and the cockpit button.
- vixalien 6mo agoit doesn't seem to show most flights or airports in africa
- tetris11 6mo agoI'm currently flying at Mach 10 on a custom call sign, breaking all kinds of barriers on a single heading. I cannot be stopped. https://flight-viz.com/cockpit.html?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&alt=3000&hdg=220&spd=13000&cs=OHDEAR https://flight-viz.com/cockpit.html?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&alt...
- nomel 6mo agoIf you wait long enough, it looks like things go very wrong around the poles.
- diavelguru 6mo agoyes just saw that!
- diavelguru 6mo agodid this https://flight-viz.com/cockpit.html?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&alt=29000&hdg=220&spd=59000&cs=OHDEAR https://flight-viz.com/cockpit.html?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&alt... flew over Mexico then got to Antartica and it started going backwards. was hoping to get to South America. Fun!
- JumpCrisscross 6mo agoBetter call Center for your ground speed [1]. [1] https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blackbird-speed-check-story https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blac...
- jredwards 6mo agoOh dear.
- ngriffiths 6mo agoI think you are a little over the 250kt speed limit under 10000
- benob 6mo agoSpace station tracking: https://flight-viz.com/cockpit.html?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&alt=413000&hdg=220&spd=28000&cs=ISS https://flight-viz.com/cockpit.html?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&alt...
- grg0 6mo agoThis is great, smart application of graphics and public data.
- matmo 6mo agoWould be nice to pair this with something like FlightRadar where you can see relevant flights in proximity to you and select them.
- sssilver 6mo agoInteresting, I wonder if it would be possible to visualize the most dramatic parts of every flight -- takeoffs and landings.
- igtumt 6mo agothis is interesting and how much of the rendering/logic is running in WASM vs JS?
- hasbot 6mo agoThis is cool. Now I can look out the cockpit of that plane that's been doing a pattern over my house for an hour.
- amelius 6mo ago* except from the plane itself because wifi is broken or too expensive.
- randerson 6mo agoI'd love if it could tell when a plane is ascending or descending and then add the last known rate of change to the simulation. Then you could watch a plane land.
- mark124mj 6mo ago[dead]
- sroussey 6mo agoWon't Elon sue?
- neilv 6mo agoBefore browsers were up to this, I implemented something related, using Google Earth Plugin. You could load up the flight data recorder data (which contains more parameters than ADS-B), and watch 3rd-person view animation of a 3D model of that aircraft's movements as it flies over terrain. With instruments, plus visual annotations of flight path over terrain. One kludge I was proud/relieved to find: At the start of the flight, there's a zoom in to the aircraft on the ground, from the Earth view, and then a particular dance of the camera around the aircraft itself. The purpose wasn't to try to look cool at the time, but to make sure that the plugin would render the aircraft model at all, before we started to change the position or orientation of the model. (The plugin was overly aggressive about deciding some annotations weren't in the scene. Once this camera dance ritual forced the plane into the scene, it stayed in the scene, even as it moved and twisted, and as the camera moved with it.)
- bigiain 6mo agoI saw Balint Seeber demo this at Dorkbot in Sydney, which must have been in the early 2000s, definitely before he left Sydney in about 2010. He was using live ADS-B data from an SDR, because this was way before global ADS-B websites and APIs existed. (I wonder what he's up to these day, he was a fascinating person and presenter, and used to be a prolific blogger on interesting subjects. I also wonder what Pia van Gelder who used to run Dorkbot Sydney is up to?)
- imaginacion3D 6mo ago[flagged]
- dtagames 6mo agoThis is super cool! The cockpit view is the best feature. But I had trouble finding it again after picking a different plane. Maybe a dedicated button for that on the map? Love it.
- coolwulf 6mo agocockpit button is on the left side panel under flight details
- Waterluvian 6mo agoI never realized the earth actually looked like a Mode 7 SNES game from up there!
- Brajeshwar 6mo agoWill it be possible to have a “Record” feature, say for a few minutes? Would be lovely to save videos, especially the landings.
- jfoster 6mo agoReally cool! Is this using a Google API? How is it not costing a small fortune?
- iJohnDoe 6mo agoBadass! Really amazing!
- linzhangrun 6mo ago[flagged]
- jmakov 6mo agoWould be nice to look around in the cockpit view. And have city names etc.
- paduc 6mo agoI tried to watch a plane land but the elevation/speed were wrong so it seemed like the plane went over the runway and disappeared.
- stevage 6mo agoIs anyone actually seeing a cockpit? All I'm seeing is a moving viewpoint (no plane, no cockpit...) I mean, it's cool, it's just not quite what I expected from "cockpit mode".
- dzhiurgis 6mo agoPretty cool. IDK if it's international connectivity issue or rendering, but I'm looking at this from Auckland and cities are just so slow to render - there's so much aliasing(?) artifacts. Also we overshot runway, then went back albeit lower and then overshot again - I suspect there's connectivity issue (or HN hug). Also data really well delayed compared to adsbexchange. Also - maybe add a button to take you to a Random Cockpit view (perhaps one with most live viewers (and add a chat there)). Also cockpit noise would make me feel like I'm in xplane again lol. Also wonder if macOS PIP can be implemented for now video feeds.
- coolwulf 6mo agoNow you can use mouse to change the camera during the cockpit view
- ava-travel 6mo ago[dead]
- ddmf 6mo agoI'm just seeing stars, tried a few different devices and a couple of different browsers.
- coolwulf 6mo agoIt should be fixed now.