And so the trifecta is complete. I now have a browser extension working which allows for integration of the BTS-based aircraft registration data into the OpenFlights flight history tracking system. Somewhat ironic it was last given that it is the one I personally use, but sometimes that’s just the way things go in the development world.
Just like the similar implementations for FlightMemory and Flight Diary this one has a button to click which looks up the data for you. It works for both new flights and editing old ones.
Simply click the button and the registration number will populate into the appropriate field on the form. If you don’t have enough parameters in the form (i.e. missing any one of flight number, date, origin or destination) you’ll get an error message:
One thing which I know is different in the OpenFlights implementation is that flight number can come in many forms. Some people list the operating carrier as part of the data and some don’t. I think I have managed to handle that in the code but I’m sure someone will prove me wrong soon enough. If you run into any issues with that functionality (or anything else) let me know.
You can access the extension in the Chrome Store here. Much like the recent updates to the FlightMemory version this one uses jQuery so I do not know if a direct download works. But here’s where I’ve got the file.
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Hi there,
i tried this, but it always says not enough data.
I have everything filled out.
It looks for 4 specific bits of data: Origin & Destination airport, flight number and departure date. For the airports make sure that OpenFlights accepts the input you’ve given and “converts” it into the full airport details in the form. If that still doesn’t work email me (seth wandr.me) a screen shot of what you’ve put in the form and I’ll do what I can to troubleshoot it.
It seems I found the problem.
There is no flight data after january 31st 2015 only before and only for national flights. International flgihts dont work either, no matter what date….
Hi –
I’ve installed the extension, but the option to look up the tail number does not show up. I’m using Chrome version 41.0.2272.101 m and have tried it with and without uBlock turned on. I’m a gold user on openflights if that makes a difference.
I just downloaded Chrone and the extension, but I get the ‘no flight found’ error even though I have all the open flights’ fields filled in…
What is the flight? That message means I don’t have data for it which likely means the DoT doesn’t have a record of it. You can also go straight to http://wandr.me/bts and put in the city pair and date to see all the flights logged for that date/city combination.
Oh okay. That site doesn’t have it either. It happens on a lot of the domestic ones I tried. CLE-PHL on 19Jun 2014; SEA-RNO 10Aug 2014…
Were these mainline or regional flights? Unfortunately a lot of the regional carriers don’t report the data to the DoT so it didn’t make it into the system.
Oh okay. I tried some mainline flights and I got it to work! Thank you! Great tool!