YSSY · SYD · Sydney, New South Wales
Planes near SYD: live flight tracking at Sydney Kingsford Smith
Sydney Kingsford Smith (SYD / YSSY) serves Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. On Botany Bay, and legally silent between eleven at night and six in the morning.
The live map
Aircraft the volunteer receiver network can currently hear around Sydney. 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 SYD, 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 | AM295 | B350 · VH-AMS |
| 02:55 UTC | Arrival | QLK165D | DH8D · VH-LQJ |
| 02:53 UTC | Arrival | JST951 | A320 · VH-VGZ |
| 02:49 UTC | Arrival | AM276 | B350 · VH-AAS |
| 02:48 UTC | Arrival | JST913 | A320 · VH-VFO |
| 02:47 UTC | Departure | QFA19 | A333 · VH-QPM |
| 02:47 UTC | Departure | TMN2 | B763 · VH-FKX |
| 02:45 UTC | Arrival | QLK38D | DH8D · VH-LQQ |
| 02:43 UTC | Departure | JST410 | A320 · VH-X3F |
| 02:42 UTC | Departure | QFA649 | A21N · VH-OGD |
| 02:40 UTC | Departure | ACI141 | A339 · F-ONEO |
| 02:40 UTC | Departure | QFA7 | A388 · VH-OQI |
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 SYD. 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 22
| Flight | From | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QLK165DDH8D · VH-LQJ | Port MacquarieYPMQ / PQQ | on the ground | 18 kt | 0 nmSE of the field |
| AM295B350 · VH-AMS | WilliamtownYWLM / NTL | on the ground | 22 kt | 1 nmNE of the field |
| JST14B788 · VH-VKG | OsakaRJBB / KIX | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmNW of the field |
| QFA523B738 · VH-VXT | BrisbaneYBBN / BNE | -475 ft | 135 kt | 1 nmSE of the field |
| VOZ518B738 · VH-YIS | Gold CoastYBCG / OOL | 1,525 ft | 175 kt | 6 nmN of the field |
| QLK1504BCS3 · VH-X4B | Hobart (Cambridge)YMHB / HBA | 5,475 ft | 269 kt | 9 nmW of the field |
| VOZ516B738 · VH-YVA | Gold CoastYBCG / OOL | 8,475 ft | 273 kt | 31 nmN of the field |
| RSCU206A139 · VH-TJI | SydneyYSBK / BWU | 2,550 ft | 131 kt | 39 nmWNW of the field |
| VOZ946B738 · VH-YIF | BrisbaneYBBN / BNE | 23,975 ft | 436 kt | 96 nmN of the field |
| QFA527B738 · VH-VXB | BrisbaneYBBN / BNE | 36,000 ft | 415 kt | 170 nmN of the field |
| JST409A320 · VH-X3A | Gold CoastYBCG / OOL | 35,975 ft | 402 kt | 218 nmN of the field |
| VOZ1140B738 · VH-VUT | BallinaYBNA / BNK | 33,450 ft | 399 kt | 257 nmNNE of the field |
| JST512A320 · VH-X3C | MelbourneYMML / MEL | 30,000 ft | 474 kt | 298 nmSW of the field |
| VOZ520B738 · VH-YIV | Gold CoastYBCG / OOL | 27,750 ft | 387 kt | 318 nmNNE of the field |
| VOZ417B738 · VH-YFH | AdelaideYPAD / ADL | 37,000 ft | 456 kt | 354 nmWSW of the field |
| QFA738B738 · VH-VXQ | AdelaideYPAD / ADL | 39,000 ft | 471 kt | 414 nmWSW of the field |
| VOZ1533B738 · VH-IWQ | Hobart (Cambridge)YMHB / HBA | 1,325 ft | 153 kt | 560 nmSSW of the field |
| VOZ164B38M · VH-8IM | QueenstownNZQN / ZQN | 25,100 ft | 365 kt | 1,017 nmSE of the field |
| VOZ556B38M · VH-8VD | PerthYPPH / PER | 35,000 ft | 464 kt | 1,543 nmW of the field |
| QFA6B789 · VH-ZNL | PerthYPPH / PER | 50 ft | 167 kt | 1,770 nmW of the field |
Outbound nearest 20 of 33
| Flight | To | Altitude | Ground speed | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LUNGL7T · VH-LUN | PerthYPPH / PER | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmNE of the field |
| QFA443B738 · VH-VXS | MelbourneYMML / MEL | on the ground | 0 kt | 1 nmN of the field |
| QFA19A333 · VH-QPM | Manila (Pasay)RPLL / MNL | 19,600 ft | 427 kt | 26 nmNW of the field |
| FD287BE20 · VH-MWH | DubboYSDU / DBO | 16,000 ft | 241 kt | 46 nmSW of the field |
| TMN2B763 · VH-FKX | AucklandNZAA / AKL | 25,275 ft | 433 kt | 64 nmESE of the field |
| QFA649A21N · VH-OGD | PerthYPPH / PER | 24,925 ft | 464 kt | 64 nmWNW of the field |
| QFA7A388 · VH-OQI | Dallas-Fort WorthKDFW / DFW | 23,875 ft | 441 kt | 86 nmENE of the field |
| JST410A320 · VH-X3F | Gold CoastYBCG / OOL | 30,750 ft | 476 kt | 88 nmNNE of the field |
| AM289B350 · VH-AMQ | Forest HillYSWG / WGA | 18,000 ft | 268 kt | 95 nmN of the field |
| ACI141A339 · F-ONEO | Nouméa (La Tontouta)NWWW / NOU | 29,850 ft | 458 kt | 101 nmENE of the field |
| VOZ557B738 · VH-YFE | PerthYPPH / PER | 36,000 ft | 447 kt | 103 nmW of the field |
| JST513A320 · VH-VGP | MelbourneYMML / MEL | 36,000 ft | 441 kt | 172 nmSW of the field |
| VOZ418B737 · VH-NHW | AdelaideYPAD / ADL | 36,000 ft | 443 kt | 172 nmW of the field |
| QLK4DDH8D · VH-QOR | TamworthYSTW / TMW | 3,475 ft | 204 kt | 172 nmN of the field |
| JST607A320 · VH-VQC | Geelong/MelbourneYMAV / AVV | 36,000 ft | 445 kt | 184 nmSW of the field |
| QFA737B738 · VH-VZJ | AdelaideYPAD / ADL | 31,975 ft | 462 kt | 223 nmW of the field |
| QFA524A21N · VH-OGA | BrisbaneYBBN / BNE | 37,000 ft | 488 kt | 263 nmNNE of the field |
| JST986A21N · VH-OLQ | PerthYPPH / PER | 32,000 ft | 477 kt | 291 nmW of the field |
| VOZ838B738 · VH-YID | MelbourneYMML / MEL | 14,300 ft | 382 kt | 344 nmSW of the field |
| QFA522B738 · VH-VYJ | BrisbaneYBBN / BNE | on the ground | 11 kt | 406 nmNNE of the field |
About Sydney Kingsford Smith
- ICAO codeYSSY
- IATA codeSYD
- ServesSydney
- RegionNew South Wales, Australia
- Coordinates33.946°S, 151.177°E
Sydney Kingsford Smith sits on the northern shore of Botany Bay, south of the city centre, with water on two sides. It is the busiest airport in Australia and the main long-haul gateway, and it operates under a legislated night curfew that stops most movements between eleven at night and six in the morning. Very few large airports go genuinely quiet the way this one does.
If you look at this page during the curfew you will see almost nothing moving, and that is correct rather than a data fault. The first hour after six in the morning is the opposite: a compressed burst of departures.
What the codes mean
Airports carry two identifiers and they are not interchangeable.
SYD 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.
YSSY is the ICAO code: four letters, used by air traffic
control, flight planning systems and trackers like this one. Its first
letter, Y, marks
Australia, 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 Sydney 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:
