KPHX · PHX · Phoenix, Arizona
Planes near PHX: live flight tracking at Phoenix Sky Harbor International
Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX / KPHX) serves Phoenix, Arizona, United States. A Sonoran desert field where summer heat measurably changes how aircraft perform.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around Phoenix. 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 PHX, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:55 UTC | Departure | UPS869 | B763 · N325UP |
| 02:54 UTC | Arrival | N400EM | BE9L |
| 02:54 UTC | Departure | SWA3552 | B38M · N8845L |
| 02:53 UTC | Arrival | UAL1938 | B39M · N37506 |
| 02:51 UTC | Arrival | SWA2247 | B738 · N8502Z |
| 02:49 UTC | Arrival | SWA1008 | B737 · N208WN |
| 02:49 UTC | Departure | FFT1820 | A21N · N675FR |
| 02:48 UTC | Departure | SWA4372 | B38M · N8833L |
| 02:47 UTC | Arrival | SWA794 | B737 · N947WN |
| 02:47 UTC | Arrival | AAL1984 | A321 · N131NN |
| 02:46 UTC | Arrival | SKW3035 | E75L · N405SY |
| 02:45 UTC | Departure | SKW4892 | CRJ7 · N754EV |
Showing the most recent 12 of 39 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 PHX. 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 53
| Flight | From | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAL1984A321 · N131NN | PhiladelphiaKPHL / PHL | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmENE of the field |
| N384PAS50 | MesaKIWA / AZA | 1,975 ft | 115 kt | 11 nmNW of the field |
| ASA746B739 · N431AS | PortlandKPDX / PDX | 17,125 ft | 334 kt | 41 nmWSW of the field |
| DAL514N595DT | BostonKBOS / BOS | 20,250 ft | 372 kt | 66 nmNE of the field |
| VTE3397E135 · N11526 | VernalKVEL / VEL | 23,200 ft | 440 kt | 70 nmNNW of the field |
| UAL1729B739 · N37468 | DenverKDEN / DEN | 32,300 ft | 452 kt | 120 nmNE of the field |
| DAL1451B739 · N846DN | Salt Lake CityKSLC / SLC | 32,000 ft | 481 kt | 241 nmN of the field |
| AAL1362A21N · N437AN | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | 29,050 ft | 477 kt | 255 nmW of the field |
| FFT2638A20N · N390FR | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 35,000 ft | 473 kt | 263 nmWNW of the field |
| SWA4447B38M · N8983Q | DenverKDEN / DEN | 39,000 ft | 471 kt | 264 nmENE of the field |
| AAL1789A321 · N932AM | SpokaneKGEG / GEG | on the ground | 8 kt | 265 nmW of the field |
| UAL2078B738 · N14219 | HoustonKIAH / IAH | 40,000 ft | 444 kt | 269 nmESE of the field |
| AAL1694A321 · N997AA | San JoseKSJC / SJC | 36,025 ft | 456 kt | 278 nmESE of the field |
| AAL3239A320 · N657AW | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | on the ground | 75 kt | 285 nmENE of the field |
| SWA3753B38M · N8990Q | Salt Lake CityKSLC / SLC | on the ground | 6 kt | 293 nmW of the field |
| AAY1713A320 · N204NV | StocktonKSCK / SCK | 35,975 ft | 411 kt | 306 nmNNE of the field |
| DAL2698B738 · N3760C | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 37,000 ft | 443 kt | 351 nmNW of the field |
| SKW6429CRJ9 · N896SK | TulsaKTUL / TUL | 37,000 ft | 477 kt | 354 nmNE of the field |
| DAL757B752 · N696DL | AtlantaKATL / ATL | 36,000 ft | 484 kt | 372 nmE of the field |
| FFT4949A21N · N615FR | Salt Lake CityKSLC / SLC | 28,075 ft | 396 kt | 396 nmN of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 56
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAL691B38M · N303RG | AustinKAUS / AUS | on the ground | 14 kt | 1 nmE of the field |
| ATN3319B763 · N395CM | AustinKAUS / AUS | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmW of the field |
| UPS869B763 · N325UP | LouisvilleKSDF / SDF | 9,200 ft | 284 kt | 11 nmWNW of the field |
| AAL2659B38M · N302SA | Santa AnaKSNA / SNA | 12,175 ft | 305 kt | 25 nmWSW of the field |
| FFT1820A21N · N675FR | DenverKDEN / DEN | 20,000 ft | 384 kt | 35 nmN of the field |
| SKW4892CRJ7 · N754EV | MidlandKMAF / MAF | 28,150 ft | 397 kt | 55 nmESE of the field |
| AAL3232A21N · N424AN | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | 21,950 ft | 419 kt | 71 nmESE of the field |
| SWA3840B738 · N8514F | AtlantaKATL / ATL | 41,000 ft | 477 kt | 85 nmNNW of the field |
| CTF124PC12 · N124R | MissoulaKMSO / MSO | 17,150 ft | 271 kt | 113 nmW of the field |
| UAL2209N17347 | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 30,000 ft | 472 kt | 116 nmNNW of the field |
| FDX1262B763 · N163FE | MemphisKMEM / MEM | 35,000 ft | 487 kt | 134 nmENE of the field |
| SWA223B38M · N9014W | OntarioKONT / ONT | 39,025 ft | 468 kt | 179 nmENE of the field |
| SWA3206B38M · N8767M | OntarioKONT / ONT | 37,000 ft | 474 kt | 182 nmNE of the field |
| VTM9987CRJ1 · XA-SPO | HermosilloMMHO / HMO | 27,000 ft | 446 kt | 182 nmSSE of the field |
| PGR1199PRM1 · N199RM | KHND | 17,575 ft | 353 kt | 191 nmNNW of the field |
| ENY4021E75L · N289MW | CarlsbadKCRQ / CLD | 16,075 ft | 341 kt | 210 nmW of the field |
| SWA1939B737 · N438WN | TulsaKTUL / TUL | 2,750 ft | 131 kt | 219 nmNW of the field |
| SWA3306B38M · N8718Q | OaklandKOAK / OAK | on the ground | 6 kt | 221 nmNW of the field |
| SWA2766B738 · N8547V | BurbankKBUR / BUR | on the ground | 6 kt | 221 nmNW of the field |
| ENY3923E75L · N273NN | MemphisKMEM / MEM | 35,000 ft | 460 kt | 290 nmENE of the field |
About Phoenix Sky Harbor International
- ICAO codeKPHX
- IATA codePHX
- ServesPhoenix
- RegionArizona, United States
- Coordinates33.435°N, 112.006°W
Phoenix Sky Harbor sits close to downtown in the Salt River valley, surrounded by Sonoran desert and low mountain ranges. Summer here is extreme enough to be an operational factor rather than a comfort one: hot air is thin air, and thin air lengthens takeoff rolls and flattens climb rates. Departure profiles on a July afternoon genuinely look different from the same flight in January.
The dry desert air is good to receivers as well as bad to aircraft. Coverage in this part of Arizona is excellent, and you can often follow a departure a very long way before it fades.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
PHX 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.
KPHX 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 Phoenix 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:
