KBOS · BOS · Boston, Massachusetts
Planes near BOS: live flight tracking at Boston Logan International
Boston Logan International (BOS / KBOS) serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Almost surrounded by water, and the first or last American landfall for Atlantic traffic.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around Boston. 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 BOS, 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 | Departure | RPA5801 | E75L · N204JQ |
| 02:58 UTC | Arrival | JBU2322 | BCS3 · N3104J |
| 02:56 UTC | Departure | JBU2261 | A21N · N4074J |
| 02:55 UTC | Arrival | DAL2639 | B738 · N398DA |
| 02:55 UTC | Arrival | RPA4502 | E75L · N126HQ |
| 02:51 UTC | Departure | JBU1079 | A21N · N2165J |
| 02:50 UTC | Arrival | N135LF | EC35 |
| 02:48 UTC | Arrival | JBU2186 | BCS3 · N3275J |
| 02:47 UTC | Departure | DLH421 | A343 · D-AIFF |
| 02:47 UTC | Arrival | SWA671 | B738 · N8610A |
| 02:45 UTC | Arrival | SWA1643 | B738 · N8549Z |
| 02:45 UTC | Arrival | RPA5751 | E75L · N240JQ |
Showing the most recent 12 of 30 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 BOS. 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 45
| Flight | From | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JBU2322BCS3 · N3104J | KPBI | on the ground | 9 kt | 0 nmSW of the field |
| JBU270A320 · N652JB | Fort LauderdaleKFLL / FLL | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmNW of the field |
| ACA764BCS3 · C-FHMO | TorontoCYYZ / YYZ | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmW of the field |
| DAL2639B738 · N398DA | New YorkKJFK / JFK | on the ground | 12 kt | 1 nmW of the field |
| RPA4768E75L · N423YX | New YorkKLGA / LGA | on the ground | 1 kt | 1 nmW of the field |
| JBU506BCS3 · N3044J | NashvilleKBNA / BNA | 1,000 ft | 128 kt | 4 nmE of the field |
| AAL567A21N · N403AN | PhoenixKPHX / PHX | 2,075 ft | 162 kt | 8 nmE of the field |
| ASA460B739 · N272AK | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 9,900 ft | 319 kt | 18 nmWNW of the field |
| JBU1940A320 · N706JB | Sarasota/BradentonKSRQ / SRQ | 11,000 ft | 324 kt | 32 nmSSW of the field |
| DAL1439B738 · N384DA | TampaKTPA / TPA | 15,300 ft | 351 kt | 41 nmSSW of the field |
| JBU1012BCS3 · N3132J | ChicagoKORD / ORD | 16,475 ft | 408 kt | 44 nmWNW of the field |
| AAL2539B38M · N317VE | MiamiKMIA / MIA | 15,700 ft | 357 kt | 49 nmSSW of the field |
| UAL521B39M · N27526 | HoustonKIAH / IAH | 19,425 ft | 425 kt | 56 nmSW of the field |
| DAL2269A21N · N607DN | AtlantaKATL / ATL | 19,875 ft | 421 kt | 66 nmSW of the field |
| JBU638BCS3 · N3118J | AustinKAUS / AUS | 20,550 ft | 405 kt | 85 nmSW of the field |
| DAL2166B752 · N718TW | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | 39,000 ft | 540 kt | 126 nmWNW of the field |
| UAL2763A21N · N14533 | NewarkKEWR / EWR | 9,875 ft | 306 kt | 159 nmSW of the field |
| AAL3107B738 · N806NN | ChicagoKORD / ORD | 37,000 ft | 509 kt | 178 nmW of the field |
| UAL755B39M · N37521 | DullesKIAD / IAD | 31,000 ft | 564 kt | 213 nmSW of the field |
| AAL2682B738 · N950AN | ChicagoKORD / ORD | 39,000 ft | 525 kt | 242 nmW of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 60
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JBU1117A320 · N562JB | New YorkKJFK / JFK | 22,000 ft | 364 kt | 71 nmSSW of the field |
| DAL314BCS3 · N302DU | Kansas CityKMCI / MCI | 30,900 ft | 522 kt | 91 nmWNW of the field |
| CSB188N751CS | BaltimoreKBWI / BWI | 38,000 ft | 384 kt | 107 nmW of the field |
| RPA5702E75L · N219YX | New YorkKJFK / JFK | 11,875 ft | 293 kt | 124 nmSW of the field |
| FDX1273MD11 · N573FE | MemphisKMEM / MEM | 34,000 ft | 384 kt | 132 nmWSW of the field |
| JBU817BCS3 · N3121J | New YorkKJFK / JFK | 7,725 ft | 234 kt | 141 nmSW of the field |
| RPA5840E75L · N207JQ | New YorkKLGA / LGA | 3,875 ft | 260 kt | 159 nmSW of the field |
| RPA5716E75L · N235JQ | New YorkKLGA / LGA | 425 ft | 123 kt | 159 nmSW of the field |
| N724MTGLEX | BuffaloKBUF / BUF | on the ground | 0 kt | 165 nmWSW of the field |
| JBU251A320 · N630JB | OrlandoKMCO / MCO | 38,000 ft | 355 kt | 167 nmSW of the field |
| RPA5609E75L · N226JQ | New YorkKLGA / LGA | 2,875 ft | 187 kt | 168 nmSW of the field |
| UPS1013B763 · N378UP | LouisvilleKSDF / SDF | 34,025 ft | 387 kt | 186 nmWSW of the field |
| RPA5610E75L · N230JQ | PhiladelphiaKPHL / PHL | 6,875 ft | 273 kt | 231 nmSW of the field |
| RPA4678E75L · N416YX | St LouisKSTL / STL | 35,000 ft | 515 kt | 233 nmW of the field |
| RPA5704E75L · N236JQ | WashingtonKDCA / DCA | 11,850 ft | 295 kt | 304 nmSW of the field |
| RPA5655E75L · N241JQ | ClevelandKCLE / CLE | 34,000 ft | 436 kt | 340 nmW of the field |
| RPA5676E75L · N217JQ | RichmondKRIC / RIC | 16,900 ft | 335 kt | 347 nmSW of the field |
| RPA5593E75L · N212JQ | JacksonvilleKJAX / JAX | 36,000 ft | 398 kt | 363 nmSW of the field |
| DAL776B738 · N3764D | MiamiKMIA / MIA | 37,000 ft | 502 kt | 374 nmSW of the field |
| HTT352LJ35 · C-GLNL | HamiltonCYHM / YHM | 6,875 ft | 239 kt | 376 nmW of the field |
About Boston Logan International
- ICAO codeKBOS
- IATA codeBOS
- ServesBoston
- RegionMassachusetts, United States
- Coordinates42.362°N, 71.008°W
Boston Logan sits on made ground in the harbour, close enough to downtown that the approaches run over water and city in roughly equal measure. Its position on the northeastern corner of the country makes it an early landfall for eastbound transatlantic traffic and a late one westbound, so overflights passing well above the field are a real part of the picture here.
Set the map wide and look northeast. Aircraft crossing the Gulf of Maine and the Maritimes at high level are on or near the North Atlantic tracks, and they are frequently the highest contacts on the screen.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
BOS 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.
KBOS is the ICAO code: four letters, used by air traffic
control, flight planning systems and trackers like this one. Its first
letter, K, marks
the contiguous United States, 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 Boston 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:
