KSAN · SAN · San Diego, California
Planes near SAN: live flight tracking at San Diego International
San Diego International (SAN / KSAN) serves San Diego, California, United States. A compact field right beside downtown, with terrain on one side and a border on the other.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around San Diego. 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 SAN, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:57 UTC | Arrival | AAL1789 | A321 · N932AM |
| 02:56 UTC | Departure | UAL2278 | B738 · N76516 |
| 02:55 UTC | Arrival | QXE2103 | E75L · N645QX |
| 02:53 UTC | Departure | SKW3010 | E75L · N187SY |
| 02:53 UTC | Arrival | SWA3627 | B737 · N216WR |
| 02:50 UTC | Arrival | XAHNY | GLF4 · XA-HNY |
| 02:49 UTC | Departure | QXE2189 | E75L · N637QX |
| 02:48 UTC | Arrival | AAL480 | A321 · N190UW |
| 02:47 UTC | Arrival | DAL1252 | A21N · N512DE |
| 02:45 UTC | Departure | SWA4453 | B738 · N8686A |
| 02:44 UTC | Arrival | UAL1379 | B739 · N68453 |
| 02:42 UTC | Arrival | ASA1326 | B739 · N285AK |
Showing the most recent 12 of 24 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 SAN. 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 46
| Flight | From | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWA659N8963Q | NashvilleKBNA / BNA | on the ground | 93 kt | 0 nmW of the field |
| SKW4087E75L · N294SY | Los AngelesKLAX / LAX | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmW of the field |
| ASA474B739 · N483AS | Raleigh/DurhamKRDU / RDU | 4,325 ft | 213 kt | 12 nmESE of the field |
| SKW3010E75L · N187SY | Salt Lake CityKSLC / SLC | 10,675 ft | 324 kt | 21 nmNW of the field |
| DAL680A321 · N374DX | AtlantaKATL / ATL | 16,025 ft | 396 kt | 57 nmE of the field |
| ASA397B739 · N464AS | OrlandoKMCO / MCO | 23,700 ft | 393 kt | 79 nmE of the field |
| ASA1471B39M · N710AL | SeattleKSEA / SEA | on the ground | 1 kt | 95 nmNW of the field |
| SWA2695B737 · N914WN | OrlandoKMCO / MCO | 22,000 ft | 415 kt | 158 nmNNE of the field |
| ACA513BCS3 · C-GWUT | MontréalCYUL / YUL | 33,000 ft | 448 kt | 171 nmENE of the field |
| UAL1302B738 · N76532 | DenverKDEN / DEN | 33,975 ft | 454 kt | 197 nmNW of the field |
| SWA1938B737 · N435WN | Honolulu, OahuPHNL / HNL | on the ground | 0 kt | 225 nmNNE of the field |
| SKW3019E75L · N197SY | Salt Lake CityKSLC / SLC | 35,600 ft | 386 kt | 297 nmNNE of the field |
| ASA389B39M · N971AK | BostonKBOS / BOS | 36,000 ft | 437 kt | 340 nmE of the field |
| SKW3481E75L · N191SY | BoiseKBOI / BOI | 35,000 ft | 404 kt | 375 nmNNW of the field |
| JZA768CRJ9 · C-GJZT | VancouverCYVR / YVR | 37,025 ft | 428 kt | 375 nmNNW of the field |
| SWA4118N1802U | TucsonKTUS / TUS | 1,950 ft | 175 kt | 380 nmNW of the field |
| DAL2145A321 · N110DX | MinneapolisKMSP / MSP | 38,000 ft | 423 kt | 453 nmNE of the field |
| AAL1243A321 · N165US | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | 33,975 ft | 453 kt | 461 nmE of the field |
| SWA512B737 · N227WN | Honolulu, OahuPHNL / HNL | 41,000 ft | 483 kt | 469 nmENE of the field |
| SWA9008B738 · N8511K | Las VegasKLAS / LAS | 8,100 ft | 240 kt | 534 nmNNE of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 44
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWA3497B737 · N224WN | DenverKDEN / DEN | on the ground | 1 kt | 0 nmSSW of the field |
| JBU1190A321 · N991JT | New YorkKJFK / JFK | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmWSW of the field |
| JBU2120A21N · N2156J | BostonKBOS / BOS | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmWSW of the field |
| FDX1839N256FE | OaklandKOAK / OAK | on the ground | 0 kt | 0 nmENE of the field |
| XAHNYGLF4 · XA-HNY | TijuanaMMTJ / TIJ | on the ground | 1 kt | 1 nmE of the field |
| ASA635B739 · N260AK | SacramentoKSMF / SMF | 6,725 ft | 242 kt | 5 nmNE of the field |
| UAL2278B738 · N76516 | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 6,475 ft | 282 kt | 10 nmWNW of the field |
| DAL709N584DN | New YorkKJFK / JFK | 12,300 ft | 346 kt | 42 nmE of the field |
| QXE2189E75L · N637QX | EverettKPAE / PAE | 16,750 ft | 360 kt | 42 nmNW of the field |
| SWA4453B738 · N8686A | SacramentoKSMF / SMF | 26,975 ft | 477 kt | 59 nmE of the field |
| DAL571A21N · N504DZ | BostonKBOS / BOS | 28,025 ft | 360 kt | 126 nmNE of the field |
| UAL1113B737 · N13718 | San FranciscoKSFO / SFO | 38,000 ft | 409 kt | 172 nmNE of the field |
| UPS921B763 · N337UP | LouisvilleKSDF / SDF | 33,000 ft | 507 kt | 191 nmENE of the field |
| ASA1362B39M · N731AL | SeattleKSEA / SEA | on the ground | 0 kt | 225 nmNNE of the field |
| SWA4751B737 · N285WN | DallasKDAL / DAL | 40,000 ft | 410 kt | 239 nmNNE of the field |
| FDX1222B763 · N156FE | MemphisKMEM / MEM | 37,025 ft | 481 kt | 240 nmE of the field |
| SWA3552B38M · N8845L | St LouisKSTL / STL | 10,725 ft | 309 kt | 257 nmENE of the field |
| ASA1392B739 · N408AS | PortlandKPDX / PDX | 36,000 ft | 453 kt | 264 nmNNW of the field |
| DAL2613B738 · N3767 | SeattleKSEA / SEA | 36,000 ft | 478 kt | 329 nmNNW of the field |
| SWA3582B38M · N8733M | DallasKDAL / DAL | 31,600 ft | 490 kt | 377 nmNNW of the field |
About San Diego International
- ICAO codeKSAN
- IATA codeSAN
- ServesSan Diego
- RegionCalifornia, United States
- Coordinates32.734°N, 117.190°W
San Diego International sits on the bay immediately northwest of downtown, boxed in by the city, the water and rising ground. It is one of the more constrained major American airports, and its approaches are correspondingly distinctive. The Mexican border is a few miles south, and Tijuana's airport is close enough to appear in the same view.
Look at the descent profile on arrivals from the east. The terrain forces a steeper and later descent than most fields require, and the altitude column makes that visible without any local knowledge.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
SAN 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.
KSAN 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 San Diego 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:
