# Flightradar24 Playback Scraper (`romy/flightradar24-playback-scraper`) Actor

Get historical flight positions at a past point in time from Flightradar24. Talks directly to Flightradar24's own gRPC/REST APIs, no login needed. Split from the mature, published flightradar24-all-in-one-api for a focused, single-purpose workflow.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/romy/flightradar24-playback-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Romy](https://apify.com/romy) (community)
- **Categories:** Travel
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.30 / 1,000 flight chargeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What does Flightradar24 Playback Scraper do?

**Flightradar24 Playback Scraper** takes a bounding box and a unix timestamp and returns every flight that was inside that box at that exact moment in the past — a historical snapshot, not a live feed. One dataset row per flight.

It talks directly to the same internal gRPC live feed the official [Flightradar24](https://www.flightradar24.com/) Android app uses (`data-feed.flightradar24.com`), reverse-engineered by static decompilation and validated against real live traffic. No API key, no login, no scraping setup. This is the `/playback` slice of [Flightradar24 All-in-One API](https://apify.com/romy/flightradar24-all-in-one-api), split out as its own focused Actor.

### Why use Flightradar24 Playback Scraper?

- **Real historical positions** — not an estimate or interpolation, the exact position snapshot Flightradar24's own server returns for that timestamp
- **Single call, no pagination** — pass a bounding box and a timestamp, get an array of flights back
- **No account needed** — the same anonymous feed the free tier of the app itself uses
- **Use cases:** aviation incident research, airspace congestion analysis at a past point in time, competitive intelligence on historical route activity, flight-delay research

### Input

| Field                               | Type    | Required | Description                                                                 |
| ----------------------------------- | ------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `north` / `south` / `west` / `east` | number  | yes      | Bounding box in decimal degrees                                             |
| `timestamp`                         | integer | yes      | Unix timestamp (seconds) of the point in time to look up — last 7 days only |
| `limit`                             | integer | no       | Max flights to return. Default `1500`.                                      |

Example:

```json
{
    "north": 6,
    "south": -11,
    "west": 95,
    "east": 141,
    "timestamp": 1756598400,
    "limit": 500
}
```

### Output

One dataset row per flight, Flightradar24's own `Flight` message shape (same fields as the parent Actor's `/live-feed`, just at the requested past timestamp):

```json
{
    "flightId": 1094013202,
    "lat": -5.815,
    "lon": 111.413,
    "track": 205,
    "alt": 38000,
    "speed": 476,
    "callsign": "PAS646",
    "onGround": false,
    "timestampMs": "1786924707066",
    "extraInfo": { "flight": "IP646", "reg": "PK-PWO", "type": "A320" }
}
```

### Known limitations

- **Playback depth is 7 days.** This matches the free tier of the Flightradar24 app itself. It is enforced server-side by Flightradar24, not by this Actor — an out-of-range or too-old `timestamp` returns an empty flight list rather than an error, so an empty dataset is a valid (if unlucky) result, not a failure.
- Live tracking, flight detail, search, and airport boards are separate spin-off Actors — this one is playback-only. For the full endpoint set, see [Flightradar24 All-in-One API](https://apify.com/romy/flightradar24-all-in-one-api).
- Not an official Flightradar24 product — an independent tool using Flightradar24's internal APIs, reverse-engineered from the public Android app. Use responsibly and in accordance with Flightradar24's Terms of Service.

### Pricing

This Actor uses **Pay Per Event** billing: charged $0.003 per flight row returned (event `flight`, FREE tier price — lower on paid plans). See the Actor's Pricing tab for current rates.

### FAQ

**Does this require a Flightradar24 account?**
No. The Actor uses the same anonymous data feed the Flightradar24 mobile app uses — no login, no API key.

**Why did I get zero results?**
Either the timestamp is older than 7 days (Flightradar24's own limit), or the bounding box genuinely had no tracked flights at that exact moment. Try a slightly different timestamp or a wider box.

**Need a custom integration?**
Contact me at romysaputrasihanandaa@gmail.com or [hire me on Fiverr](https://www.fiverr.com/romyssss).

# Actor input Schema

## `north` (type: `number`):

Bounding box in decimal degrees. Prefilled with Indonesia.

## `south` (type: `number`):

Bounding box in decimal degrees. Prefilled with Indonesia.

## `west` (type: `number`):

Bounding box in decimal degrees. Prefilled with Indonesia.

## `east` (type: `number`):

Bounding box in decimal degrees. Prefilled with Indonesia.

## `timestamp` (type: `integer`):

Unix timestamp (seconds) of the point in time to look up. Depth is the last 7 days only — this is Flightradar24's own free-tier server-side limit; an older or out-of-range timestamp returns an empty flight list, not an error. Defaults to 1 hour ago if omitted.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Max flights to return.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "north": 6,
  "south": -11,
  "west": 95,
  "east": 141,
  "limit": 1500
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "north": 6,
    "south": -11,
    "west": 95,
    "east": 141
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("romy/flightradar24-playback-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "north": 6,
    "south": -11,
    "west": 95,
    "east": 141,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("romy/flightradar24-playback-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "north": 6,
  "south": -11,
  "west": 95,
  "east": 141
}' |
apify call romy/flightradar24-playback-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,romy/flightradar24-playback-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/lVzdcLhmyeQEXNEkC/builds/eXyHHvZuP9ILpsuD7/openapi.json