• tetris11 2 days ago

    I'm currently flying at Mach 10 on a custom call sign, breaking all kinds of barriers on a single heading. I cannot be stopped.

    https://flight-viz.com/cockpit.html?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&alt...

  • coolwulf 5 days ago

    Creator here. I posted Flight-Viz a few days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603966) and the feedback was great. Since then I added a cockpit mode that follows any liveflight with real 3D terrain.

    How to try it: go to flight-viz.com, click any plane, then click "Cockpit" in the action buttons. You'll get a first-person view wit h real buildings, terrain, atmosphere, and a HUD showing altitude/speed/heading — all driven by live ADS-B data.

    Hao

    • simooooo 2 days ago

      Can you make it so "exit cockpit" navigates to a route rather than execute a back on the browser, as it takes me back to the hacker news page when I push it.

      Also took me about 5 minutes to find the cockpit view button after I'd selected a flight but that might be a me problem :)

      • dylan604 a day ago

        Exit Cockpit disabled; No parachutes available

        • coolwulf 2 days ago

          Thank you for the suggestion and I just modified that behavior.

          • dzhiurgis a day ago

            > Also took me about 5 minutes to find the cockpit view button after I'd selected a flight

            Same here. Should be more prominent for a brand new feature!

            • croisillon 2 days ago

              i came here to comment on the exit=back too

              and i'd like metric measurement too

            • _HMCB_ 2 days ago

              This is so cool. But on iOS, clicking the plane flashes the mini modal/popup but the it immediately disappears. There no way, on touch, to keep it open long enough to click a cockpit view button, assuming there is one.

              • jimmydddd 2 days ago

                I was able to do it on my iPhone. 1) Click on a plane on the map. 2) Click on "menu" at the bottom. 3) Scroll down to the bottom of info window and click on "cockpit."

                • _HMCB_ a day ago

                  Whoa! That was it. I expected a more prominent button for cockpit. I actually just thought those were labels. Thanks big time.

              • venusenvy47 16 hours ago

                It's really cool. I'm a little unsure if the website is overloaded or my browser is not rendering it properly. If I zoom in on an area and try to click on a plane in flight, sometimes I can select a plane, but sometimes I can't. Even for a plane that I was able to select a few seconds before, if I click away and try to click again, it won't select.

                • coolwulf 16 hours ago

                  You need to click on the plane icon, not the label.

                • d3Xt3r a day ago

                  Any chance of adding real-time sky and weather effects, using satellite imagery and weather data?

                  • hbcondo714 2 days ago

                    Gorgeous! I can search flights at LAX but I don't see the smaller airports around it like SNA or LGB listed. Any chance those could be added?

                    Also, is there by chance a way to do historical flights?

                    • coolwulf 2 days ago

                      I just added smaller airport. (for now I turned off airport overlay as default since it get a little clutterd but you can turn it on. or you can search the airport code in search bar)

                      • hbcondo714 a day ago

                        Thank you!

                    • OSS542 a day ago

                      Doesn't seem to work for me. I just get star field displays no matter what I do.

                    • neilv 2 days ago

                      Before browsers were up to this, I implemented something related, using Google Earth Plugin.

                      You could load up the flight data recorder data (which contains more parameters than ADS-B), and watch 3rd-person view animation of a 3D model of that aircraft's movements as it flies over terrain. With instruments, plus visual annotations of flight path over terrain.

                      One kludge I was proud/relieved to find: At the start of the flight, there's a zoom in to the aircraft on the ground, from the Earth view, and then a particular dance of the camera around the aircraft itself. The purpose wasn't to try to look cool at the time, but to make sure that the plugin would render the aircraft model at all, before we started to change the position or orientation of the model. (The plugin was overly aggressive about deciding some annotations weren't in the scene. Once this camera dance ritual forced the plane into the scene, it stayed in the scene, even as it moved and twisted, and as the camera moved with it.)

                      • bigiain a day ago

                        I saw Balint Seeber demo this at Dorkbot in Sydney, which must have been in the early 2000s, definitely before he left Sydney in about 2010.

                        He was using live ADS-B data from an SDR, because this was way before global ADS-B websites and APIs existed.

                        (I wonder what he's up to these day, he was a fascinating person and presenter, and used to be a prolific blogger on interesting subjects. I also wonder what Pia van Gelder who used to run Dorkbot Sydney is up to?)

                      • lastdong 2 days ago

                        This is so impressive, love it!

                        A bit of feedback: Clicking exit cockpit goes back to the previous page (in this case this HN thread).

                        Not sure if just me, but I really had to search hard for the actions under menu and the cockpit button.

                        • grg0 2 days ago

                          Double-clicking on an airplane should send you to the cockpit view imo.

                          • batisteo 2 days ago

                            You lucky, on Firefox mobile it does nothing.I can only see the one random flight, in this case already on the ground

                          • RichardHesketh 5 days ago

                            The FlightRadar24 app has had this feature for quite some time. I like your implementation though - it’s very easy on the eye.

                            • coolwulf 5 days ago

                              Thanks for letting me know. I actually didn't know about this feature in FlightRadar24 app.

                              • culi 2 days ago

                                Paid feature though

                              • Waterluvian a day ago

                                I never realized the earth actually looked like a Mode 7 SNES game from up there!

                                • paduc a day ago

                                  I tried to watch a plane land but the elevation/speed were wrong so it seemed like the plane went over the runway and disappeared.

                                  • linzhangrun a day ago

                                    I remember Flight Radar 64 seems to have a 3D model feature. Technically it doesn't seem difficult: you just need the corresponding aircraft model, a 3D map with satellite imagery like Google Earth as the base, and then feed in the transponder data. It's a bit like an online game.

                                    • Brajeshwar a day ago

                                      Will it be possible to have a “Record” feature, say for a few minutes? Would be lovely to save videos, especially the landings.

                                      • jfoster a day ago

                                        Really cool! Is this using a Google API? How is it not costing a small fortune?

                                        • dtagames a day ago

                                          This is super cool! The cockpit view is the best feature. But I had trouble finding it again after picking a different plane. Maybe a dedicated button for that on the map?

                                          Love it.

                                          • coolwulf a day ago

                                            cockpit button is on the left side panel under flight details

                                          • randerson 2 days ago

                                            I'd love if it could tell when a plane is ascending or descending and then add the last known rate of change to the simulation. Then you could watch a plane land.

                                            • grg0 2 days ago

                                              This is great, smart application of graphics and public data.

                                              • bigfudge 2 days ago

                                                Is it possible to pan?

                                                • Chrisszz 2 days ago

                                                  Commands are not that handy but from someone that has the flying in his heart since he was child I must admit that it's cool to have the cockpit view

                                                  • rogerrogerr 2 days ago

                                                    If you go hang out at your local small airport on a weekend, I guarantee someone will give you a ride. In the US, at least.

                                                    • nomel 2 days ago

                                                      You can get "introductory" flights for pretty cheap, where they let you fly a bit.

                                                      • macintux a day ago

                                                        I bought one for my father years ago as a gift, and was able to ride along. A great day.

                                                    • matmo 2 days ago

                                                      Would be nice to pair this with something like FlightRadar where you can see relevant flights in proximity to you and select them.

                                                      • jmakov a day ago

                                                        Would be nice to look around in the cockpit view. And have city names etc.

                                                        • hasbot 2 days ago

                                                          This is cool. Now I can look out the cockpit of that plane that's been doing a pattern over my house for an hour.

                                                          • sssilver 2 days ago

                                                            Interesting, I wonder if it would be possible to visualize the most dramatic parts of every flight -- takeoffs and landings.

                                                            • igtumt 2 days ago

                                                              this is interesting and how much of the rendering/logic is running in WASM vs JS?

                                                              • gorfian_robot 2 days ago

                                                                I wish it had all the small aircraft not just commercial flights

                                                              • metabagel 5 days ago

                                                                Perhaps this should be submitted under "Show".

                                                              • vixalien 2 days ago

                                                                it doesn't seem to show most flights or airports in africa

                                                                • Reason077 2 days ago

                                                                  Limited ADS-B receiver coverage in their data network, presumably.

                                                                • stevage a day ago

                                                                  Is anyone actually seeing a cockpit? All I'm seeing is a moving viewpoint (no plane, no cockpit...)

                                                                  I mean, it's cool, it's just not quite what I expected from "cockpit mode".

                                                                  • sva_ a day ago

                                                                    I think it is broken now, as per the console:

                                                                        Object { statusCode: 401, response: '{"code":"INVALID_TOKEN","message":"Invalid access token"}', responseHeaders: {…} }
                                                                    • coolwulf 20 hours ago

                                                                      It should be fixed now.

                                                                      • sva_ 16 hours ago

                                                                        Very nice. It would be sweet to get some anti-aliasing.

                                                                  • dzhiurgis a day ago

                                                                    Pretty cool. IDK if it's international connectivity issue or rendering, but I'm looking at this from Auckland and cities are just so slow to render - there's so much aliasing(?) artifacts.

                                                                    Also we overshot runway, then went back albeit lower and then overshot again - I suspect there's connectivity issue (or HN hug). Also data really well delayed compared to adsbexchange.

                                                                    Also - maybe add a button to take you to a Random Cockpit view (perhaps one with most live viewers (and add a chat there)).

                                                                    Also cockpit noise would make me feel like I'm in xplane again lol. Also wonder if macOS PIP can be implemented for now video feeds.

                                                                    • iJohnDoe a day ago

                                                                      Badass! Really amazing!

                                                                      • coolwulf 19 hours ago

                                                                        Now you can use mouse to change the camera during the cockpit view

                                                                        • Markoff 2 days ago

                                                                          Cromite on Android 15 stock Pixel ROM:

                                                                          Error constructing CesiumWidget. Visit http://get.webgl.org to verify that your web browser and hardware support WebGL. Consider trying a different web browser or updating your video drivers. Detailed error information is below:

                                                                          RuntimeError: The browser supports WebGL, but initialization failed. Error at new kL (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at DEe (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new dd (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new li (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new Go (https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.125/Build/C...) at new ji...

                                                                          • amelius 2 days ago

                                                                            * except from the plane itself because wifi is broken or too expensive.

                                                                            • deadlinermusic 5 days ago

                                                                              Love this. How do you modify the flight number?

                                                                              • gramie 2 days ago

                                                                                If you click on a city's name, you can see a list of all flights arriving and departing. Some of the arriving ones will be in flight, and you can click on the flight number to view it, then "Cockpit" view to see (roughly) what the pilots are seeing.

                                                                              • sroussey 2 days ago

                                                                                Won't Elon sue?