Most commercial airlines have tracking programs on their company websites where you can see the flight status of all of their aircraft, either as text or as a visual display on a map. But what if you want to track a private plane that wouldn't be included on these commercial sites?
Have the tail registration number ("tail number") of the plane you want to track on hand. This number will begin with an "N" if the aircraft is registered in the U.S. or a "G" if registered in Canada. If you don't know the tail number, you can use the FAA's database and search by name, dealer or other search criteria. All planes, commercial and private, have a tail number as required by law.
Use one of the free Internet flight tracking sites like Flight Aware.
Under the section of the flight-tracking site where it says "Flight Tracker" (Flight/Tail #), type in the tail number (the number you secured in Step 1), then click "Enter."
Track the flight on the next screen that's been created for the specific tail number you entered. The screen will tell you the type of aircraft, the origin and destination airports, the route as filed, the date of the flight, duration of the flight and the flight's status. If the flight is in the air, you'll also be able to see the aircraft's speed and altitude.
Double-click on the small map on the tracking screen and it will open up the screen in a full page. You can leave this full-page screen open and the flight will be tracked automatically as it flies toward its destination. If you just use the smaller screen instead, you'll have to manually refresh the page to get the latest update.
