KORD · ORD · Chicago, Illinois
Planes near ORD: live flight tracking at Chicago O'Hare International
Chicago O'Hare International (ORD / KORD) serves Chicago, Illinois, United States. Flat ground, one very large terminal area, and Midway a short hop to the southeast.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around Chicago. 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 ORD, 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 | AAL2194 | A321 · N119NN |
| 02:58 UTC | Departure | GJS4441 | CRJ7 · N537GJ |
| 02:57 UTC | Departure | UAL1884 | B739 · N67815 |
| 02:57 UTC | Arrival | AAL1317 | B738 · N984NN |
| 02:57 UTC | Departure | RPA3491 | N780YX |
| 02:56 UTC | Departure | AAL2977 | B738 · N914NN |
| 02:55 UTC | Departure | UAL2040 | B39M · N37560 |
| 02:55 UTC | Arrival | UAL2229 | B738 · N27239 |
| 02:54 UTC | Departure | RPA3464 | E75L · N765YX |
| 02:54 UTC | Departure | UAL1842 | B738 · N76504 |
| 02:53 UTC | Arrival | GJS4393 | CRJ7 · N521GJ |
| 02:53 UTC | Departure | SKW5982 | CRJ2 · N919EV |
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 ORD. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAL1933B38M · N37278 | OmahaKOMA / OMA | 37,000 ft | 467 kt | 183 nmW of the field |
| UAL2827A319 · N828UA | HoustonKIAH / IAH | 10,575 ft | 328 kt | 230 nmW of the field |
| ENY3948N328DS | Fayetteville/Springdale/KXNA / XNA | 36,000 ft | 443 kt | 236 nmWSW of the field |
| UAL2426A320 · N449UA | Santa AnaKSNA / SNA | 30,000 ft | 441 kt | 276 nmSW of the field |
| AAL2346B738 · N817NN | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | 27,000 ft | 424 kt | 289 nmSW of the field |
| DAL2130BCS1 · N126DU | MinneapolisKMSP / MSP | on the ground | 0 kt | 290 nmNW of the field |
| AAL435A21N · N452AN | PhoenixKPHX / PHX | 38,975 ft | 468 kt | 299 nmWSW of the field |
| AAL1114A321 · N913US | PhoenixKPHX / PHX | 30,000 ft | 465 kt | 309 nmWSW of the field |
| ENY3726E170 · N792JB | Knoxville/MaryvilleKTYS / TYS | 14,050 ft | 376 kt | 332 nmSW of the field |
| UAL1813A21N · N14504 | Cincinnati / CovingtonKCVG / CVG | 28,050 ft | 456 kt | 360 nmWSW of the field |
| DAL1634B738 · N3749D | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | 39,000 ft | 491 kt | 493 nmW of the field |
| UAL1710B738 · N24224 | San DiegoKSAN / SAN | 37,975 ft | 403 kt | 498 nmW of the field |
| ASA538B739 · N278AK | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 37,000 ft | 518 kt | 534 nmWNW of the field |
| UAL249B39M · N57451 | VancouverCYVR / YVR | 36,000 ft | 428 kt | 569 nmW of the field |
| UAL2800B738 · N14237 | NewarkKEWR / EWR | 36,000 ft | 443 kt | 572 nmWSW of the field |
| AAL1305B38M · N304RB | VancouverCYVR / YVR | 32,000 ft | 429 kt | 587 nmWNW of the field |
| UAL1733B737 · N39726 | JacksonvilleKJAX / JAX | 40,000 ft | 413 kt | 610 nmW of the field |
| UAL308N37297 | PhiladelphiaKPHL / PHL | 36,000 ft | 447 kt | 612 nmWSW of the field |
| UAL2211B39M · N77590 | JacksonvilleKJAX / JAX | 34,000 ft | 417 kt | 629 nmWNW of the field |
| ASA1493B39M · N734AL | San DiegoKSAN / SAN | 39,000 ft | 476 kt | 642 nmWSW of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 60
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FDX1329B752 · N793FD | MemphisKMEM / MEM | 37,025 ft | 522 kt | 340 nmW of the field |
| ASA1466B739 · N238AK | San DiegoKSAN / SAN | 40,000 ft | 436 kt | 441 nmWSW of the field |
| UAL602B39M · N47450 | PhoenixKPHX / PHX | 36,000 ft | 460 kt | 443 nmWSW of the field |
| UAL481B738 · N14235 | San JoseKSJC / SJC | 38,000 ft | 433 kt | 454 nmWSW of the field |
| UAL1580B738 · N26215 | VancouverCYVR / YVR | 28,000 ft | 443 kt | 484 nmWNW of the field |
| UAL8195B753 · N77867 | NewarkKEWR / EWR | 30,000 ft | 472 kt | 512 nmW of the field |
| UAL2144A319 · N827UA | St LouisKSTL / STL | 38,000 ft | 443 kt | 575 nmWSW of the field |
| DAL2376B738 · N3750D | Salt Lake CityKSLC / SLC | 38,025 ft | 399 kt | 585 nmW of the field |
| SKW4638N630SY | Colorado SpringsKCOS / COS | 28,275 ft | 411 kt | 615 nmW of the field |
| SKW5645E75L · N156SY | WinnipegCYWG / YWG | 3,350 ft | 183 kt | 620 nmNW of the field |
| UAL685A21N · N14548 | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | 33,975 ft | 435 kt | 646 nmSW of the field |
| FFT2145A21N · N626FR | Las VegasKLAS / LAS | 34,000 ft | 423 kt | 652 nmW of the field |
| ENY4205E75L · N258NN | Kansas CityKMCI / MCI | 31,000 ft | 467 kt | 665 nmSSW of the field |
| UAL2499A21N · N14559 | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | 34,025 ft | 442 kt | 685 nmWSW of the field |
| ENY3846N313BS | Fayetteville/Springdale/KXNA / XNA | 15,650 ft | 366 kt | 690 nmSW of the field |
| SKW5290E75L · N211SY | BoiseKBOI / BOI | 34,000 ft | 408 kt | 692 nmW of the field |
| AAL2507A321 · N142AN | SavannahKSAV / SAV | on the ground | 0 kt | 696 nmSW of the field |
| UAL2813B739 · N38424 | HoustonKIAH / IAH | 15,950 ft | 381 kt | 745 nmSSW of the field |
| UAL1660B38M · N17362 | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 39,000 ft | 486 kt | 751 nmWSW of the field |
| SKW5015CRJ2 · N983SW | JoplinKJLN / JLN | 8,200 ft | 243 kt | 765 nmW of the field |
About Chicago O'Hare International
- ICAO codeKORD
- IATA codeORD
- ServesChicago
- RegionIllinois, United States
- Coordinates41.979°N, 87.905°W
O'Hare sits on flat ground northwest of the Chicago Loop, with Midway a short distance southeast. The two fields share a single terminal airspace and their traffic interleaves constantly, so a wide view here shows two sets of arrival streams threading past each other. There is no terrain to shape any of it, which makes the paths you see close to pure procedure.
Winter changes the picture completely. Deicing holds aircraft on the ground with their transponders still talking, so the map fills with stationary contacts that are very much still flying that day.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
ORD 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.
KORD 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 Chicago 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:
