CYYC · YYC · Calgary, Alberta
Planes near YYC: live flight tracking at Calgary International
Calgary International (YYC / CYYC) serves Calgary, Alberta, Canada. On the prairie at the foot of the Rockies, with the mountain wave a regular guest.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around Calgary. The frame is fixed on the field; tap or click an aircraft to open its full details.
Nothing here is filtered. Military aircraft, aircraft in the FAA's LADD privacy programme and aircraft using temporary addresses all appear the same way anything else does. Open the full map to pan, zoom and switch layers.
Movements we watched happen
Snapshot written . This page refreshes by itself while it is open.
These are transitions the receiver network actually observed at YYC, each with the time it was seen. Nothing here is guessed from a timetable.
Why there may be fewer departures than arrivals
A departure is only counted once a receiver has seen the aircraft on the ground here first. That guard stops us inventing takeoffs for aircraft that merely flew overhead, and it costs us real ones: hearing an aircraft sitting on an airport surface needs a receiver with line of sight to that surface, which is the hardest reception there is. An arrival only needs the aircraft to have been seen airborne, and airborne coverage is very good.
So at any airport without a clear view of the ground, this list will show fewer departures than actually happened. If you see more arrivals than departures below, read that as a fact about where the antennas are, not about the airport.
| Time | Movement | Flight | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:58 UTC | Arrival | MAL7063 | B752 · C-FMAI |
| 02:55 UTC | Departure | WJA2 | B789 · C-FAJA |
| 02:52 UTC | Departure | WEN3750 | DH8D · C-FHEN |
| 02:51 UTC | Arrival | WJA651 | B38M · C-FZWS |
| 02:51 UTC | Arrival | WJA126 | B738 · C-FWSE |
| 02:50 UTC | Departure | WJA242 | B738 · C-FCNW |
| 02:48 UTC | Arrival | WJA1621 | B38M · C-GRWS |
| 02:39 UTC | Arrival | WJA813 | B737 · C-FWSI |
| 02:39 UTC | Departure | JZA144 | DH8D · C-GGMZ |
| 02:37 UTC | Arrival | WJA783 | B737 · C-GWSO |
| 02:36 UTC | Arrival | WEN3726 | DH8D · C-GENU |
| 02:35 UTC | Arrival | WEN3541 | DH8D · C-GWEN |
Showing the most recent 12 of 23 in the current recording window.
What appears to be inbound and outbound right now
Where the aircraft in range right now are most likely heading, worked out from their callsigns rather than watched happening.
How this list is built
We take the aircraft the receiver network can currently hear, read the callsign each one is broadcasting, and look that callsign up in an index of the routes it has actually flown before. An entry means this callsign's most commonly observed route ends at YYC. That is a good guide to where a flight is going. It is not a flight plan: nobody has told us today's routing, and we would rather say that than dress an inference up as a schedule.
The consequences are worth knowing. A diversion or an unusual routing will be listed wrong. A charter, a positioning leg, or any flight the index has not seen before is missing entirely. You will occasionally see an aircraft here sitting on the ground on the far side of a continent, which is the method showing its working rather than hiding it. There are no scheduled times or arrival estimates on this page because neither can be computed honestly from what we hold.
For gates, delays and cancellations the airline and the airport are authoritative. This page is for what is actually in the air.
Inbound nearest 20 of 34
| Flight | From | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAL7063B752 · C-FMAI | VancouverCYVR / YVR | on the ground | 16 kt | 1 nmWSW of the field |
| WJA126B738 · C-FWSE | VancouverCYVR / YVR | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmN of the field |
| ACA357BCS3 · C-GTZU | OttawaCYOW / YOW | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmNNW of the field |
| WJA567B738 · C-GNDG | MontréalCYUL / YUL | 15,500 ft | 342 kt | 29 nmNE of the field |
| WJA1611B38M · C-GZSG | ChicagoKORD / ORD | 23,500 ft | 383 kt | 66 nmSE of the field |
| POE365E295 · C-GKQL | TorontoCYYZ / YYZ | 37,625 ft | 389 kt | 85 nmENE of the field |
| FLE812B738 · C-FFLJ | VancouverCYVR / YVR | 34,000 ft | 509 kt | 109 nmWSW of the field |
| ACA153A321 · C-GJVX | TorontoCYYZ / YYZ | 29,975 ft | 413 kt | 115 nmENE of the field |
| ACA325A320 · C-FCUG | MontréalCYUL / YUL | 32,000 ft | 423 kt | 171 nmENE of the field |
| WJA1507B738 · C-FPLS | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 37,000 ft | 518 kt | 187 nmSSW of the field |
| UAL720B739 · N68807 | DenverKDEN / DEN | 36,000 ft | 428 kt | 241 nmSSE of the field |
| WJA1681B38M · C-GLVU | New YorkKJFK / JFK | 36,000 ft | 398 kt | 264 nmENE of the field |
| WJA1027B738 · C-GWSR | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | 34,000 ft | 538 kt | 286 nmSSW of the field |
| WJA1731B38M · C-GIZG | DullesKIAD / IAD | 38,000 ft | 404 kt | 295 nmESE of the field |
| WJA1625B737 · C-FWSY | BostonKBOS / BOS | 40,000 ft | 388 kt | 312 nmENE of the field |
| ACA226A321 · C-FGKN | VancouverCYVR / YVR | 15,500 ft | 413 kt | 333 nmWSW of the field |
| POE485E295 · C-GKXA | HamiltonCYHM / YHM | 38,000 ft | 389 kt | 339 nmE of the field |
| WJA128B738 · C-GWSV | VancouverCYVR / YVR | 8,175 ft | 279 kt | 360 nmWSW of the field |
| WJA1431B737 · C-GGWJ | NashvilleKBNA / BNA | 40,000 ft | 394 kt | 362 nmESE of the field |
| WJA235B38M · C-FXYK | WinnipegCYWG / YWG | 38,000 ft | 368 kt | 378 nmE of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 33
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACA227BCS3 · C-GROV | VancouverCYVR / YVR | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmN of the field |
| FLE809B38M · C-FFEL | VancouverCYVR / YVR | on the ground | 11 kt | 1 nmNNW of the field |
| ACA223BCS3 · C-GJXY | VancouverCYVR / YVR | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmN of the field |
| WJA150B38M · C-GAMQ | EdmontonCYEG / YEG | on the ground | 23 kt | 1 nmSSW of the field |
| WJA129B38M · C-FTXF | VancouverCYVR / YVR | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmSSW of the field |
| WJA2B789 · C-FAJA | LondonEGLL / LHR | 8,125 ft | 289 kt | 10 nmN of the field |
| WEN3750DH8D · C-FHEN | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 14,725 ft | 233 kt | 15 nmWSW of the field |
| WJA242B738 · C-FCNW | WinnipegCYWG / YWG | 22,400 ft | 418 kt | 37 nmE of the field |
| JZA144DH8D · C-GGMZ | EdmontonCYEG / YEG | 16,075 ft | 361 kt | 101 nmN of the field |
| ACA850A333 · C-GEGC | LondonEGLL / LHR | 32,850 ft | 531 kt | 158 nmNNE of the field |
| OCN77A333 · D-AIKQ | Frankfurt am MainEDDF / FRA | 33,625 ft | 525 kt | 186 nmNNE of the field |
| ACA158A321 · C-FFGZ | TorontoCYYZ / YYZ | 35,000 ft | 534 kt | 192 nmE of the field |
| WJA1504B737 · C-FWSX | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 37,000 ft | 364 kt | 268 nmSSW of the field |
| WJA1092B738 · C-FYBK | Las VegasKLAS / LAS | 37,000 ft | 384 kt | 324 nmS of the field |
| FLE543B38M · C-FLBG | VictoriaCYYJ / YYJ | 21,025 ft | 334 kt | 347 nmWSW of the field |
| WJA1026GL7T · C-GFJO | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | 40,000 ft | 393 kt | 359 nmSSW of the field |
| WEN3737DH8D · C-FKWE | NanaimoCYCD / YCD | 9,425 ft | 253 kt | 381 nmWSW of the field |
| QXE2308N652MK | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 3,775 ft | 202 kt | 400 nmWSW of the field |
| WJA1168B738 · C-GAWS | PhoenixKPHX / PHX | 37,000 ft | 383 kt | 435 nmS of the field |
| FDX141N257FE | MemphisKMEM / MEM | 39,000 ft | 510 kt | 514 nmESE of the field |
About Calgary International
- ICAO codeCYYC
- IATA codeYYC
- ServesCalgary
- RegionAlberta, Canada
- Coordinates51.119°N, 114.010°W
Calgary International sits northeast of the city on open prairie, with the Rocky Mountain front a short distance west. That boundary between plain and mountain generates strong downslope winds, and the mountain wave that forms in them can be felt by aircraft a long way from the terrain that caused it. It is the main hub for western Canada and a common staging point for polar routes.
A chinook is worth watching for. When warm downslope wind pours off the mountains, the surface temperature at this field can climb dramatically in an hour and the arrival tracks shift with the wind change.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
YYC is the IATA code: three letters, the one printed on a
boarding pass and a baggage tag, assigned for commercial purposes and reused across
the world without any geographic logic.
CYYC is the ICAO code: four letters, used by air traffic
control, flight planning systems and trackers like this one. Its first
letter, C, marks
Canada, because ICAO allocates the code space by region.
The callsigns in the lists above are a third thing again. A callsign is what the crew typed into the transponder for this leg, so it changes flight by flight, while the registration and the 24-bit hex address stay with the airframe. When a callsign and a registration disagree, the registration is usually the more reliable of the two.
How to read the numbers
Altitude is pressure altitude, which is what the aircraft's air data system reads with a standard pressure setting. It is not height above the ground and it is not always the altitude the crew is flying to. Near Calgary that gap is most obvious on approach, when a tracker can show a figure that does not match what is on the flight deck.
Ground speed is speed across the earth, not through the air. A strong tailwind can add a hundred knots or more to it without the aircraft flying any faster, which is why two aircraft at the same level going opposite ways can show wildly different numbers. Track is the direction of travel over the ground, which is not the direction the nose is pointing when there is any crosswind at all.
Aircraft go missing from this map for reasons that have nothing to do with the aircraft. Reception is line of sight, so terrain and distance cut it off abruptly; a good deal of light aviation in the United States broadcasts on 978 MHz rather than 1090 MHz; and plenty of aircraft, including gliders and older light types, carry no ADS-B at all and are not required to. How ADS-B works covers all of that properly.
Other airports on the map
The nearest fields with their own live page:
