Volans Logo
Welcome to SFO's new 3D flight track viewer powered by VOLANS!
VOLANS is a web-based application designed to display flight operations in 3D. The application is capable of showing aircraft operations in the bay area from San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and numerous general aviation airports.
  • View flights in 3D
  • View flights from a pilot's perspective or an aerial overview
  • Playback historical flight data
  • View aircraft data including origin/destination, altitude, speed, aircraft type and flight number
Running Volans
To run VOLANS you must have Java installed. You can download and install Java by clicking on the Java image to the right or by clicking here. Download Java
Clicking the VOLANS image to the right will launch the application which will begin showing live flights tracks within a few seconds. These 'live' flights have been delayed by approximately ten minutes as indicated by the date and time displayed in the lower right corner of the map window. This can be helpful if you notice an unusual overflight in your neighborhood and you need time to bring up this website to study the flight's altitude and flight path.

In order to properly run Volans your computer should meet or exceed the following minimum specifications:
  • Java SE 6 update 18
  • 2.0GHZ CPU
  • 2GB RAM
  • Dedicated graphics card (not integrated, on-board video)
  • OpenGL version 2.1
  • 50MB free disk space
  • 350KB internet download speed
Launch Volans application
Launch system check application
VOLANS Quick Guide (Click to show/hide the guide)
There are six main sections of VOLANS that control how you view aircraft operations.

Data - this section allows the user to view flight tracks in real time (10 minute delay) or playback data from a previous time period.

Maps - there are three map options: satellite, street and navigational charts

Lines - this controls the flight track for each flight allowing you to toggle On/Off the flight trail, as a "curtain" or the entire track

Perspective - this controls how the viewer sees the flights. It defaults to an overhead view. This view can be changed to a 'pilot' perspective. Click on the aircraft you wish to 'fly'. A yellow circle will appear around the selected aircraft. Then click 'pilot' and you will view that flight from the cockpit.

Tools - these tools allow you to adjust the map by zooming in/out, panning, etc, toggle on/off a scale bar and compass, and find an address by using 'Locator'.

Tags - this section shows information for each flight. Check the box for the tag information then click on the 'Flight tags on/off' button to show the flight information.

Aircraft – Aircraft are displayed using a 3D model that matches or is very similar to the aircraft type for each flight. However, there are times when the radar information does not include an aircraft type. For these flights a chevron symbol is used to show the aircraft; the chevron is used because the aircraft type is unknown, therefore, the flight could be a commercial jet or a small general aviation propeller aircraft.

 

For the User's Manual click here.
To launch the 2D flight track application click this icon   Launch 2D application