KDEN · DEN · Denver, Colorado
Planes near DEN: live flight tracking at Denver International
Denver International (DEN / KDEN) serves Denver, Colorado, United States. Out on the high plains, with the Front Range standing between the airport and the west.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around Denver. 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 DEN, 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 | DAL8866 | A333 · N808NW |
| 02:58 UTC | Departure | SWA2011 | B38M · N9013M |
| 02:57 UTC | Departure | SKW5923 | E75L · N619UX |
| 02:57 UTC | Arrival | FFT4625 | A20N · N438FR |
| 02:56 UTC | Departure | UAL377 | N24526 |
| 02:56 UTC | Departure | UAL2419 | B39M · N37528 |
| 02:55 UTC | Arrival | SWA3181 | B738 · N8664J |
| 02:55 UTC | Departure | SWA1534 | B38M · N8724J |
| 02:54 UTC | Arrival | UAL407 | N14536 |
| 02:54 UTC | Departure | UAL400 | B38M · N27266 |
| 02:53 UTC | Departure | SKW5824 | CRJ7 · N572GJ |
| 02:53 UTC | Departure | UAL2028 | B738 · N77538 |
Showing the most recent 12 of 40 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 DEN. 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 60
| Flight | From | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAL2235B738 · N981AN | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmNNW of the field |
| SWA3667B738 · N8526W | San JoseKSJC / SJC | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmNE of the field |
| SWA3974B38M · N8882Q | BuffaloKBUF / BUF | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmENE of the field |
| FFT3199N671FR | MinneapolisKMSP / MSP | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmSE of the field |
| UAL2046B38M · N17361 | New YorkKLGA / LGA | on the ground | 16 kt | 0 nmESE of the field |
| UAL1790B38M · N17279 | Santa BarbaraKSBA / SBA | on the ground | 10 kt | 0 nmE of the field |
| UAL407N14536 | NewarkKEWR / EWR | on the ground | 10 kt | 1 nmENE of the field |
| FFT4625A20N · N438FR | MemphisKMEM / MEM | on the ground | 11 kt | 1 nmESE of the field |
| UAL1483A319 · N848UA | St LouisKSTL / STL | on the ground | 17 kt | 1 nmSW of the field |
| UAL2350A320 · N495UA | RedmondKRDM / RDM | on the ground | 9 kt | 1 nmNW of the field |
| FFT3725A21N · N635FR | Cincinnati / CovingtonKCVG / CVG | 6,650 ft | 176 kt | 7 nmS of the field |
| UAL377N24526 | IndianapolisKIND / IND | 8,325 ft | 235 kt | 7 nmN of the field |
| FFT2225A20N · N336FR | Raleigh/DurhamKRDU / RDU | 9,825 ft | 268 kt | 19 nmS of the field |
| UAL400B38M · N27266 | RichmondKRIC / RIC | 12,675 ft | 347 kt | 19 nmN of the field |
| FFT1693A20N · N370FR | ColumbusKCMH / CMH | 14,250 ft | 308 kt | 36 nmSE of the field |
| UAL2656A320 · N433UA | Santa AnaKSNA / SNA | 17,350 ft | 375 kt | 48 nmSW of the field |
| UAL1602B739 · N27421 | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | 27,100 ft | 452 kt | 76 nmW of the field |
| FFT2107A20N · N381FR | Sioux FallsKFSD / FSD | 27,750 ft | 419 kt | 80 nmNE of the field |
| FFT1859A20N · N440FR | AustinKAUS / AUS | 25,675 ft | 418 kt | 84 nmSE of the field |
| UAL1291B738 · N33209 | Las VegasKLAS / LAS | 26,575 ft | 450 kt | 95 nmWSW of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 60
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SKW5575E75L · N206SY | Fayetteville/Springdale/KXNA / XNA | on the ground | 6 kt | 0 nmE of the field |
| SWA1545B38M · N8814K | HoustonKHOU / HOU | on the ground | 7 kt | 0 nmNW of the field |
| UAL540N24513 | San DiegoKSAN / SAN | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmW of the field |
| SKW4805E75L · N87365 | MadisonKMSN / MSN | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmSW of the field |
| SWA1598B38M · N8745K | ChicagoKMDW / MDW | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmN of the field |
| SKW5389E75L · N125SY | Des MoinesKDSM / DSM | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmWSW of the field |
| ICE28PB752 · TF-FIN | ReykjavíkBIKF / KEF | on the ground | 1 kt | 0 nmS of the field |
| SKW4755CRJ7 · N716EV | WichitaKICT / ICT | on the ground | 13 kt | 0 nmWNW of the field |
| UAL667B738 · N37253 | MinneapolisKMSP / MSP | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmSW of the field |
| UAL2132B39M · N17564 | SacramentoKSMF / SMF | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmSW of the field |
| UAL262B789 · N28987 | LondonEGLL / LHR | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmSW of the field |
| FFT1292N651FR | MinneapolisKMSP / MSP | on the ground | 12 kt | 1 nmWSW of the field |
| UAL2014B739 · N57439 | BoiseKBOI / BOI | on the ground | 3 kt | 1 nmSSW of the field |
| FDX1220B763 · N295FE | MemphisKMEM / MEM | on the ground | 11 kt | 2 nmS of the field |
| SKW5923E75L · N619UX | BoiseKBOI / BOI | 7,000 ft | 217 kt | 5 nmW of the field |
| UAL2419B39M · N37528 | HoustonKIAH / IAH | 9,100 ft | 269 kt | 10 nmWSW of the field |
| SKW5824CRJ7 · N572GJ | LincolnKLNK / LNK | 14,225 ft | 369 kt | 23 nmE of the field |
| UAL2028B738 · N77538 | OntarioKONT / ONT | 14,400 ft | 379 kt | 28 nmWSW of the field |
| SKW4727E75L · N168SY | Oklahoma CityKOKC / OKC | 19,250 ft | 371 kt | 44 nmE of the field |
| FFT3228A20N · N378FR | HoustonKIAH / IAH | 23,975 ft | 458 kt | 59 nmSSE of the field |
About Denver International
- ICAO codeKDEN
- IATA codeDEN
- ServesDenver
- RegionColorado, United States
- Coordinates39.860°N, 104.674°W
Denver International sits well east of the city on open high plains, with the Front Range of the Rockies a wall to the west. That wall does most of the work here: traffic arriving from the west has to come down across it, and the mountain wave that forms on a windy day is felt long before the aircraft is anywhere near the airport. The field itself has room to spread out in a way that eastern airports do not.
The altitude matters to what you are watching. Aircraft leave the ground faster and climb more slowly here than at sea level, so departure ground speeds early in the climb read higher than instinct suggests.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
DEN 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.
KDEN 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 Denver 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:
