🛩️ VATSIM Live Network Scraper

🚀 Pull the entire live VATSIM network in one run. Around 1,800 online pilots and 190 controllers, each as a clean flat record with position, flight plan, and frequency.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-06-05 · 📊 24 fields per pilot record · live snapshot · global coverage

VATSIM is the global online flight simulation network where thousands of virtual pilots and air traffic controllers fly and control together in real conditions. This Actor reads the official VATSIM Data v3 feed and turns the current live snapshot into a structured table you can analyze, map, or pipe into your own tools.

Coverage is worldwide and live. Every connected pilot and controller present in the feed at run time is available, with no account, key, or login required.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Flight sim community builders, ATC trainers, VATSIM event organizers, aviation data hobbyists, dashboard makers	Live traffic maps, event load monitoring, network analytics, ATC staffing views, training dashboards

📋 What the VATSIM Live Network Scraper does

It fetches the live VATSIM Data v3 snapshot and maps each entry to one flat record.

• Pilots mode returns every connected pilot with callsign, member name, CID, latitude, longitude, altitude, ground speed, heading, transponder, and a flattened flight plan (aircraft, departure, arrival, alternate, cruise speed, planned altitude, route, remarks).
• Controllers mode returns every online controller with callsign, frequency, facility, rating, visual range, and logon time.
• Optional filters narrow results by callsign text, and for pilots by departure or arrival airport.

🎬 Full Demo (🚧 Coming soon)

⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
mode	string (select)	Yes	pilots for online flights, controllers for online ATC. Default pilots.
callsign	string	No	Keep only records whose callsign contains this text. Example DLH.
departure	string	No	Pilots only. Keep flights departing this ICAO airport. Example EGLL.
arrival	string	No	Pilots only. Keep flights arriving this ICAO airport. Example KJFK.
maxItems	integer	No	Cap on records returned. Free plan is limited to 10.

Example 1, all online pilots:

{
  "mode": "pilots",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example 2, flights arriving at London Heathrow:

{
  "mode": "pilots",
  "arrival": "EGLL",
  "maxItems": 25
}

⚠️ Good to Know: The feed is a live snapshot. Records reflect who is connected at the moment the run starts, so two runs minutes apart will differ. Pilots who have not filed a flight plan will have empty departure, arrival, and route fields.

📊 Output

Each pilot record contains these fields:

Field	Description
🛩 callsign	Pilot callsign on the network
🆔 cid	VATSIM member ID
👤 name	Member display name
📍 latitude / longitude	Live aircraft position
📈 altitude	Current altitude in feet
💨 groundspeed	Ground speed in knots
🧭 heading	Heading in degrees
📟 transponder	Squawk code
✈️ aircraft	Aircraft type from the flight plan
🛫 departure / 🛬 arrival	Flight plan airports (ICAO)
🗺 route	Filed route string
📝 remarks	Flight plan remarks
🕒 scrapedAt	Run timestamp
❌ error	Null on success

Three real sample pilot records from a live run:

{ "callsign": "GEC8442", "cid": 1752278, "name": "Max EDDL", "latitude": 28.74657, "longitude": -103.74676, "altitude": 35045, "groundspeed": 491, "heading": 309, "transponder": "1000", "aircraft": "MD11", "departure": "SBGL", "arrival": "KPHX", "plannedAltitude": "28000" }

{ "callsign": "QFA001", "cid": 1891533, "name": "Anthony Carney EGNT", "latitude": -17.02844, "longitude": 136.09202, "altitude": 43203, "groundspeed": 493, "heading": 143, "transponder": "5131", "aircraft": "A359", "departure": "EGLL", "arrival": "YSSY", "plannedAltitude": "33000" }

{ "callsign": "QFA63", "cid": 1470520, "name": "Harikrishna S VOCB", "latitude": -32.14, "longitude": 33.48201, "altitude": 39982, "groundspeed": 445, "heading": 319, "transponder": "1042", "aircraft": "A388", "departure": "YSSY", "arrival": "FAOR", "plannedAltitude": "34000" }

Controller records swap the flight fields for frequency, facility, rating, and visualRange.

✨ Why choose this Actor

• Reads the official VATSIM Data v3 source, so the data matches what the network publishes.
• One flat record per pilot or controller, ready for tables and maps.
• Flight plans are flattened, no nested digging required.
• No API key, account, or login needed.
• Works for the whole network or a single airport with one filter.

📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Setup	Flat records	Filters	Controllers too
This Actor	None	Yes	Callsign, departure, arrival	Yes
Raw VATSIM JSON feed	Manual parsing	No, deeply nested	None	Manual
Third party map sites	Account often needed	No structured output	Limited	Varies

🚀 How to use

1. Sign up for a free Apify account using this link.
2. Open the VATSIM Live Network Scraper.
3. Pick a mode, pilots or controllers.
4. Optionally add a callsign, departure, or arrival filter and set maxItems.
5. Click Start and collect the results from the output table.

💼 Business use cases

Event operations

Need	How this helps
Monitor traffic load during a fly-in	Count pilots inbound to the event airport
Track ATC coverage	List online controllers and their facilities

Community dashboards

Need	How this helps
Live network map	Plot latitude and longitude per pilot
Activity stats	Aggregate connected members over time

Training and review

Need	How this helps
Study filed routes	Read the route and aircraft fields
ATC staffing review	See rating and facility per controller

Analytics

Need	How this helps
Popular city pairs	Group flights by departure and arrival
Fleet mix	Count aircraft types across the network

🔌 Automating VATSIM Live Network Scraper

Connect runs to Make, Zapier, Slack, Airbyte, GitHub, or Google Drive through Apify integrations and webhooks. Trigger on a schedule, then forward each snapshot to your spreadsheet, database, or chat channel automatically.

🌟 Beyond business use cases

• Research: study network behavior and traffic patterns across regions.
• Personal: track a friend's flight or your favorite airline callsigns.
• Non-profit: support volunteer ATC training groups with live staffing views.
• Experimentation: feed live positions into your own mapping or alerting projects.

🤖 Ask an AI assistant

Paste a results sample into ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Copilot and ask it to summarize busiest routes, group flights by region, or rank online facilities.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Is a VATSIM account required? No. The data feed is public and keyless.

How fresh is the data? It is a live snapshot taken when the run starts.

How many records can I get? Typically around 1,800 pilots and 190 controllers when the network is busy. Free plan runs are capped at 10.

Can I get a single airport's traffic? Yes, use the departure or arrival filter for pilots.

Does it include controllers? Yes, set mode to controllers.

What is the CID? It is the unique VATSIM member identifier.

Why are some flight plan fields empty? That pilot has not filed a flight plan yet.

Can I filter by airline? Yes, use the callsign filter with the airline prefix like BAW or DLH.

Does it cover the whole world? Yes, the network is global and so is the feed.

Is historical data available? No, the feed is current state only. Schedule repeated runs to build your own history.

🔌 Integrate with any app

Use the Apify API, webhooks, and prebuilt integrations to push each snapshot into the tools your team already uses.

🔗 Recommended Actors

• ADSB.lol Live Flights Scraper for real aircraft tracking.
• AviationWeather METAR TAF Scraper for live aviation weather.
• OpenChargeMap Scraper for points of interest data.

💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection.

🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form

⚠️ Disclaimer: independent tool, not affiliated with VATSIM. Only publicly available data is collected.