Investigate aircraft in2D or3D
The expanded Aviation workspace brings together aircraft search, source integrity fields, altitude and speed charts, an observation cursor, comparison snapshots, configurable units and2D/3D map controls. Aircraft and airport suggestions share the main search box.
Reported position time, last contact and collection time remain distinct. Source methods and available integrity indicators are visible; they are not presented as an independent accuracy probability. Optional Commons imagery retains accepted reuse-license metadata, attribution and source links, with registration-title matches distinguished from type illustrations.
Replay what was actually retained
Observed-coordinate history now targets up to24hours, with the actual available range shown on the timeline. Older observations are sampled and bounded; the existing finer recent history remains available. Replay and charts use retained samples without inventing intervening positions or earlier history.
Account-private investigations can preserve a selected public source record and the last500retained trail points at capture. Saved filters and observation links make investigations easier to revisit. Public-history links depend on retention, while saved evidence remains associated with the owning account.
Connect airport, weather and airspace evidence
Airport operations combine public airport/runway references, nearby transponder observations, METARs, TAFs and published FAA operating advisories. Source-qualified map layers include worldwide available SIGMETs, CONUS G-AIRMETs, FAA TFR and airspace references, and Watchtower’s global CAP warning polygons.
Coverage remains explicit: FAA reference and status products are not a complete worldwide NOTAM service. Nearby positions do not establish arrivals, departures or destinations, and horizontal warning overlap does not prove flight impact. Current weather/context layers are hidden during historical aircraft playback. A server-aggregated, viewport-aware observation grid provides an additional view of reported target concentrations, not receiver coverage.
Monitor with account-private cloud watches
Cloud watches continue evaluating public observations while the browser is closed. Aircraft, radius/polygon selections and mapped airport advisories can generate a private inbox, with baseline-first behaviour, duplicate suppression, cooldowns and visible bounds. Browser notifications are optional while Aviation is open.
These notifications describe source observations and publications. An observation gap or a new area match is not proof of continuous physical movement or a boundary crossing. Browser stars remain local, while cloud preferences, saved views, watches and investigations are isolated by account.
Bring your own paid aviation APIs
Public sources remain the default. Customers can add their own FlightAware AeroAPI, ADS-B Exchange Enterprise gateway or aviationstack keys through API Connections, then run supported lookups in Aviation’s My aviation APIs panel.
Credentials use the existing encrypted per-account vault. Paid-provider results remain private and are excluded from shared snapshots, public exports and background watch polling. Requests are manual and may consume provider credits. Provider plans determine available operations and geographic coverage; no subscriptions are included or purchased by this update.
Provider clocks and units are preserved carefully. For example, FlightAware’s received-position timestamp remains distinguished from a measurement clock, and its documented altitude unit is converted explicitly. Fields with unspecified native units are not silently merged into public measurements. Conflicting or differently timed source positions remain separate for inspection.
Start exploring
Reload Watchtower and open Aviation. Use Investigate for selected aircraft, Replay for retained observations, Airports for source-qualified operations, Cloud watches for monitoring, Saved investigations for captures, Coverage & layers for source status, and My aviation APIs for your own provider connections.
The separate aircraft feed on Watchtower’s other main map is preserved. Existing Weather Alerts, Flock cameras, Debt clocks, Financial Stress, and concurrent Systemic Risk/Forecast Lab work remain available.