Flight tracking API?

[ncarmon]

I want to track my flight and get some flight history. However, I don't want to buy APRS, and I don't want to pay Flight Aware or some other site...

Does anyone know where the flight aware data comes from? Does the government publish an API that makes flight data available? Can anybody point me at it?

Seems like this data, if it comes from the governement, should be available to anyone.....

Let me know...

Thanks!

Nate.

[BrentHumphreys]

I actually looked into this since I am a geek. It has been several months, but if I remember correctly you have to apply for access, and it implies that you need a business reason for the data.

The data is provided as an http stream of data, so there is not really an API that can be used to query the data. You will have to be consuming the stream of real time data, store it, and be able to recall, render charts, etc.

By the way APRS is very cheap, works even when you aren't on an IFR flight plan, and is very much hackable if you want to extend the functionality.