Flight Explorer Personal Edition 5.0

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

This program appears to be a comprehensive flight-tracking tool, but the demo restriction makes it tough to tell how well it really works. In theory, Flight Explorer Personal Edition lets you track flights over most parts of North America and its surrounding seas in real time. However, since the trial version only offers simulated data, we cannot vouch for how accurate the program is if you subscribe. Most of the main interface is dedicated to a map of the United States, with a multitude of icons and tabs surrounding it. Because the program has so many features, its appearance initially can be quite intimidating, though the detailed help files provide some assistance. The application lets you choose what sort of information you want the map to display, including time zones, major cities, special-use airspace, and airports. You'll also find a number of preset themes, which show data such as all American Airlines flights or all aircraft approaching O'Hare. Of course, you can simply choose to view all flights currently in the air, either via a table or by a graphical representation. All told, we'd like to be more positive about Flight Explorer Personal Edition, but since the demo hobbles much of its functionality, we don't feel comfortable highly recommending it.

Publisher's description

From Flight Explorer :

Flight Explorer Personal Edition is a professional-grade flight-tracking system built for pilots, consumers, and aviation enthusiasts. Extremely easy to use, with a full built-in help system, Flight Explorer allows you to track all IFR aircraft flying over the United States, Canada, and parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in real time. Details for each flight can be displayed including origin, destination, ETA, altitude, speed, and aircraft type. The display can easily be filtered to view all aircraft, a small group of aircraft, or just one. The application features real-time FAA delays and temporary flight restriction graphics. Its extensive aviation overlays include centers, sectors, TRACONS, navaids, fixes, airways, restricted airspace, worldwide airports, cities, and interstates. Real-time graphs of projected traffic at airports. This download includes a free demo mode that displays prerecorded flight data. Live flight data requires a subscription at $9.95/month for up to 10 hours of usage.

More popular Hobby Software downloads

1. 8,772 downloads 1. Collectorz.com Music Collector
2. 1,961 downloads 2. exPressit SE
3. 903 downloads 3. Hair Master
4. 419 downloads 4. PhotoStitch
5. 384 downloads 5. Strobe Light
6. See all Hobby Software downloads