Show ADS-B traffic type of aircraft

[MGiacomet]

Would be nice if the traffic detail box showed the type of aircraft.

It would give an idea of the traffic’s capability to climb/descend, what you should be looking for out of the window (high wing, low wing) and the size of it (i.e., how big of a dent would it cause if you hit )

 

[Cobra]

Would be nice if the traffic detail box showed the type of aircraft.

It would give an idea of the traffic’s capability to climb/descend, what you should be looking for out of the window (high wing, low wing) and the size of it (i.e., how big of a dent would it cause if you hit )

Might be nice, but that information is not available in the ADSB traffic broadcast.

From https://www.adsbhub.org/docs/ :

Broadcasts may include:

• Flight Identification (flight number callsign or call sign)
• ICAO 24-bit Aircraft Address (globally unique airframe code)
• Position (latitude/longitude)
• Position integrity/accuracy (GPS horizontal protection limit)
• Barometric and Geometric Altitudes
• Vertical Rate (rate of climb/descent)
• Track Angle and Ground Speed (velocity)
• Emergency indication (when emergency code selected)
• Special position identification (when IDENT selected)

 

[MGiacomet]

Not impossible, though. I know of at least one EFB (WingX) that displays aircraft type.

Also, various web sites show aircraft type. It’s available from the FAA; one only has pull the database and cross-reference the 24-bit Aircraft Address. A ballpark estimate of the data storage necessary (about 300,000 US registered aircraft) would be about 4MB. Not humongous.

Like I wrote above, it IS possible, even on an iPad/iPhone that is not connected to the web.

 

[Cobra]

Does WingX show it in flight, or only on the ground?

It's easy to look up an aircraft type if you have Internet connectivity. To do so in flight when the Internet is not available would require keeping the entire aircraft registry database onboard your device locally, increasing the amount of data required to periodically download.

 

[MGiacomet]

In flight.

As I stated in the previous reply, the amount of data isn’t enormous (about 4MB for US planes; some extra for Canadian, etc.) With today’s devices, not an issue (we have GB). Concerned about increased download times? The data doesn’t change that often, so it can be downloaded once and then only download incremental updates. There are ways of accomplishing this.