✈️ Aircraft Tracker API (ADS-B): Approach & Military Alerts

Not another ADS-B dump — a computed answer. For any point, this returns the aircraft that are approaching it — with closest-approach distance + ETA, bearing, and military / unidentified ("N/A") classification — instead of raw positions you have to analyze yourself.

Headless · keyless · structured JSON out · built for AI agents.

⚡ Why it's different

Raw scrapers give you lat/long. This one computes where each plane is going: closest point of approach, minutes until it gets there, which side it passes, and whether it's military or unidentified (by hex block, callsign prefix, type code, or the feed's military flag).

📋 What you get (per aircraft)

Field	Meaning
hex, callsign, registration, type, country	Identity
category, isMilitary, isUnidentified	military / unidentified / civil
distanceKm, bearingDeg, bearingCompass	Where it is now, relative to your point
cpaKm, cpaEtaMin, cpaSide	Closest approach: distance, minutes away, N/S of centerline
approaching, inbound	Getting closer? Will it breach your alert radius in time?
altitudeFt, groundSpeedKt, trackDeg, elevationDeg	Flight + viewing data

📥 Input

Field	Type	Meaning
latitude, longitude	number	Your point (decimal degrees)
radiusNm	integer	Scan radius, nautical miles (max 250)
category	enum	all / military / unidentified / military_or_unidentified
onlyApproaching	boolean	Only aircraft getting closer
inboundAlertKm, inboundMinutes	integer	Flag inbound if it will pass within X km in Y min
maxResults	integer	Optional cap
webhookUrl	string	POST results here (Zapier/Make/n8n/custom)

Example input

{ "latitude": 40.4936, "longitude": -3.5668, "radiusNm": 120, "category": "all" }

📤 Output (one row per aircraft)

{
  "hex": "34448d", "callsign": "IBS16LT", "type": "A320", "country": "Spain",
  "category": "civil", "isMilitary": false, "isUnidentified": false,
  "distanceKm": 38.9, "bearingDeg": 182.0, "bearingCompass": "S",
  "cpaKm": 24.9, "cpaEtaMin": 3.0, "cpaSide": "S", "approaching": true, "inbound": false,
  "altitudeFt": 11000, "groundSpeedKt": 320, "trackDeg": 191, "capturedAt": "2026-..."
}

💰 Pricing (pay-per-event menu)

• result — base, per aircraft returned.
• military-or-unidentified — premium, per military/unidentified contact (the high-value outcome).

💡 Use cases

• Plane spotting / OSINT: know when something — or something military — is heading your way.
• Field / outdoor ops: awareness of traffic approaching a site or airspace.
• Agent tools: one call gives an agent "what's inbound to this point and is it military", pre-computed.
• Scheduled alerts: watch a point and get pinged only on approaching/military contacts.

🔔 Alerts (scheduled)

Set filters (category: military_or_unidentified, onlyApproaching: true) + webhookUrl, add an Apify Schedule, and get pinged only when something inbound/military appears.

🤖 For AI agents (MCP)

Keyless, one call → computed, structured results. Example MCP server config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aircraft-tracker-adsb": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,centorprat/aircraft-tracker-adsb"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,centorprat/aircraft-tracker-adsb" --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"

No extra setup: this Actor is callable from Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or any MCP client through the Apify MCP server, and agents can find it on their own with the server's search-actors tool.

🚀 Ready-made tasks (one click)

Pre-configured runs for the most common jobs. Open one, change the input, run:

• Military & Unidentified Aircraft Near a Location: Live military and unidentified aircraft near any lat/lon from ADS-B: callsign, type, altitude, distance, closest approach and ETA. Alerts via webhook.
• Aircraft Approaching an Airport (Live ADS-B): Live list of aircraft approaching any airport or point, with closest approach, ETA and inbound flags from ADS-B data. Keyless.
• Live Flights Over Any City (ADS-B): Every aircraft over a city right now: callsign, type, altitude, speed, distance and flags from live ADS-B. Keyless flight tracker API.

❓ FAQ

• What if nothing is in range? You get one free status row ("status": "no_aircraft_in_range") instead of an empty dataset, so agents and scripts always get an explicit answer. It is not billed.
• Do I need an API key? No — it reads keyless open ADS-B data; you only pay the Actor's per-result fee.
• How fresh is it? Live aircraft positions at run time.
• What's "unidentified"? A transmitting aircraft with no registration/type/civil callsign — what shows as "N/A" on public trackers (often military).
• How is military detected? Hex block (e.g. US AE…, UK 43C…), callsign prefix (RRR, RCH, GAF…), type code (C130, A400…), or the feed's dbFlags.
• Why would a plane not appear? It only shows if it transmits ADS-B/Mode-S and a volunteer receiver hears it; aircraft flying "dark" are invisible to every tracker.
• What does inbound mean vs approaching? approaching = getting closer; inbound = will pass within your alert km/min window.
• Units? Distances km, speed kt, altitude ft, radius nautical miles.
• Is data stored? No — fetched, computed, returned.
• Commercial use? Yes — data is from adsb.lol (ODbL open data); keep the attribution.

📜 Data & attribution

Aircraft data from adsb.lol (Open Database License, ODbL 1.0). Public data, computed and returned; nothing stored.

🔗 Related actors

Part of one suite of keyless, agent-ready composers by the same developer:

• Shopify Store Leads + App Audit (Reviews, Email, Pixels): Shopify stores by niche, verified and audited for missing apps (reviews, email/SMS, upsell, loyalty, chat, subscriptions), pixels and theme: scored leads with emails.
• Google Maps Leads + Website Audit for Agencies: local businesses from Google Maps audited for website, Google profile, reviews, booking and tracking gaps: scored, explained leads with phone and emails.
• FEMA Flood Zone & Property Risk API - Zillow/Redfin Enricher: FEMA flood zone + 18-hazard FEMA risk index + neighborhood demographics per US address, or for a whole Zillow/Redfin dataset.
• Domain Lookup API - DNS, MX, SPF, Tech & Contact Emails: DNS + live homepage → IPs, MX/SPF, tech, socials and public contacts per domain.
• Wikipedia & Wikidata API - Entity Facts, Summary & Pageviews: Wikipedia + Wikidata + pageviews → one structured brief per company, person or place.
• Country Economic Data API - World Bank GDP, FX & Holidays: World Bank + FX + public holidays → one market brief per country.
• Weather, Air Quality & Earthquake Risk API by Location: live weather + air quality + earthquakes → one clear/caution/hazard verdict per point, worldwide.
• NARA Catalog Extractor: US National Archives catalog search → digital-object download URLs + metadata.