ADS-B Exchange

How to Use This API

1. Aircraft in Bounding Box

https://api.adsbexchange.com/api/aircraft/json/lat/40.0/lon/-73.0/dist/50/

2. Single Aircraft by ICAO Hex

https://api.adsbexchange.com/api/aircraft/icao/aabbcc/

3. Airport Departures

https://api.adsbexchange.com/api/airports/airport/KJFK/departures/

4. Routes for a Flight Number

https://api.adsbexchange.com/api/routes/route/DAL123

5. JavaScript — Nearby Aircraft

async function nearbyAircraft(lat, lon, distKm) {
  const resp = await fetch(
    `https://api.adsbexchange.com/api/aircraft/json/lat/` +
    `${lat}/lon/${lon}/dist/${distKm}/`
  );
  const data = await resp.json();
  
  if (!data.ac?.length) {
    console.log('No aircraft in range');
    return;
  }
  
  console.log(`Aircraft within ${distKm}km:`);
  data.ac.slice(0, 10).forEach(a => {
    const call = a.flight?.trim() || 'unknown';
    const alt = a.alt_baro || 'ground';
    const spd = a.speed || '?';
    const type = a.t || '?';
    console.log(`  ${call} | ${type} | Alt: ${alt}ft | Speed: ${spd}kts`);
  });
}

nearbyAircraft(40.7128, -74.0060, 30); // NYC area

6. Python — Track Flight

import requests

def track_flight(icao_hex):
    resp = requests.get(
        f'https://api.adsbexchange.com/api/aircraft/icao/{icao_hex}/'
    )
    data = resp.json()
    
    if not data.get('ac'):
        print('Aircraft not found')
        return
    
    a = data['ac'][0]
    print(f'Aircraft: {a.get("flight", "unknown").strip()}')
    print(f'Type: {a.get("t", "N/A")}')
    print(f'Position: {a.get("lat", "?")}, {a.get("lon", "?")}')
    print(f'Altitude: {a.get("alt_baro", "ground")} ft')
    print(f'Speed: {a.get("speed", "?")} kts')
    print(f'Heading: {a.get("track", "?")}\u00b0')
    print(f'Registration: {a.get("reg", "N/A")}')

track_flight('aabbcc')