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December 06, 2005
Planes in Flight in Google Earth (revisited)
It is becoming something of a passion for some, looking at the high resolution satellite and aerial photography to find a shot of an aircraft in flight somewhere on the Earth. As previously reported here and here people at the Google Earth Community have been collecting the locations of pictures of planes captured in flight in the Google Earth data.
The folks at the GEC have been creating a database which is being updated daily, and until recently you had to go to the main post and re-download the KMZ file to get the latest updates. Now, my friend Valery up in Russia has created a network link 
for the plane collections including the airplanes in flights, airports, locations of DC3s, and locations of Starships. He has also put train/rail-related collections as well. Once you download the network link, move it to your "My Places" folder for safe keeping. Then, click on the "Transportation" folder to see what it contains. Click on the folder you want to examine and explore. I recommend the "Air->All Aircraft in Flight". You will be amazed at the dozens of planes in flight people have found. Double click on the placemarks to get a close-up view of these planes.
One thing you may notice is that some of the planes have a "ghost". This is not a shadow, but is in fact an artifact of satellite imagery and the fact that planes are in motion. You can read an explanation here. A tip: when you are done looking at all the placemarks you can select the main folder with the right mouse button and choose "Hide Contents" to deselect all the placemarks. Then click on the folder "triangle" to open/close the folder.
Posted by FrankTaylor at December 6, 2005 08:02 AM
Comments
Posted by: Jason at December 6, 2005 12:30 PM
Huh? I'm not sure what you're talking about. There is no "account" required to see the GE (formerly called Keyhole) database. The free Google Earth can see the entire dataset.
Posted by: Frank Taylor at December 6, 2005 10:13 PM
I got the free google earth and the entire database is amazing cheers!!!
Posted by: geographer91 at January 10, 2006 03:01 PM
I've checked out Google earth but the views where from a couple of years ago, and there is no clear vision at all for North of Scotland. Will this be getting changed, I have downloaded the free version but am reluctant to subscribe without knowing more.
Anyone got any answers for me Please
Posted by: Nikki at March 31, 2006 01:49 PM
The data you see in the free version is the best Google currently makes available. Buying the GE Plus or Pro versions will not let you see more satellite data.
Posted by: Frank Taylor at March 31, 2006 07:25 PM
i like looking at planes in flight
Posted by: john cox at July 13, 2006 08:14 PM
i like looking at people in flight, but they are harder to find
Posted by: jox cohn at November 1, 2006 07:23 PM
how old are the images on google earth?
Posted by: emma at December 17, 2006 12:32 PM
Have a look at:
52°13'2.76"N, 5°36'59.90"E
Posted by: Theo at January 1, 2007 08:13 PM
take a look at this 50°3'6.04'' N, 8°36'59.85'' E
Posted by: blackadder at June 20, 2007 07:34 AM
Hey! That last location is interesting....... four aircraft shadows but only three aircraft? Hmmmmm, must be the new 'stealth' Airbus? ;o)
Posted by: G-DUBYA at July 25, 2007 08:05 AM
Not in flight, but take a look here at 32°09'11.24"N, 110°51'58.30"E. Or more strictly, to the northeast and east of the southern tip of the runway...
Posted by: G-DUBYA at July 25, 2007 08:58 AM
This one seems to be a B737 landing at J. Newery Airpark, Buenos Aires City, on rwy. 31:
34 33 54.22 S
58 24 17.89 W
Posted by: Robert at July 26, 2007 10:50 AM
If you look around over the Nazca Lines in Peru, you'll find at least 2 little planes (and their corrsponding shadows on the ground), that's all I found earlier today anyway ... sorry, finding a plane 'in the way' when you're looking for something else is well, kinda cool, but I don't get as charged up about it as you do, apparently. I agree with the commenter who said that flying people would be cooler, but they're harder to find ... haven't found any of those yet.
Posted by: Chief Musser at August 1, 2007 01:09 PM
I`ve just found an interesting location 50° 3'6.04"N, 8°36'59.85"E. Now I realize that I am not the first one to feel that this is weird!
1) 4 shadows in a row for only 3 aircrafts
2) for the 2 shadows from the west there are no corresponding aircrafts as shadows lie north-north-east from objects as evidenced by any object on Frankfurt Airport, or, much nicer, in Frankfurt City!!!
3) except from an airshow, can anyone think of 3 Lufthansa 747s separated by mere 4-500 meters (meaning 3-5 seconds)from each other??? Is it one single plane captured somehow thrice by the satellite?
NGT
Posted by: Gabor Nagy at August 15, 2007 06:42 AM
Hi Gabor, the 3 planes and 4 shadows from Frankfurt airport were discovered in March 2006 - shortly after the image update of that month. You are right, it is a single airplane. An aircraft taking the aerial photos happened to be flying in the same direction and took the four pictures as the airliner was taking off. In one of the photos, only the shadow was captured.
See this thread:
Posted by: Frank Taylor at August 15, 2007 07:36 AM
how old are the images on google earth?
Posted by: 链条 at August 15, 2007 09:36 AM
Don't know whether this little aircraft over Ludwigsburg, Germany was already spotted: 48°53'44.65"N 9°11'21.31"E
I didn't find a shodow, though :)
Stephan
Posted by: Stephan at August 19, 2007 07:09 PM
how do you make it look like a movie while you are flying? please reply.
Posted by: devon at September 22, 2007 01:18 AM
Here are some interesting ones: Helicopters near Las Vegas @ 36°14'39.64"N 115° 1'52.01"W , A giant Rabbit @ 44°14'38.97"N 7°46'10.58"E
Posted by: Walter Ochs at October 9, 2007 12:45 PM
I go fishing in the beautiful Exuma Island chain in the Bahamas. I use Google Earth to spot potential dive sites. There are several wrecks that I fish regularly, and a few sunken planes too.
I was looking if the wreck of a Haitian sloop was visible, - I didn't find that - but I did spot this light aircraft seemingly incoming to either Leaf Cay or Blackpoint - or maybe even Staniel Cay itself where I am based.
The lat long of the plane I spotted is:
24°10'5.23"N
76°29'20.21"W
Is this a new one?
Frank
Posted by: Yakido at January 2, 2008 10:13 PM
I found this one while looking at cutovers in Newfoundland, The cutovers are to the north, I was following the highway down just looking at random things.
48°59'23.98"N, 56°02'27.55"W
Posted by: Samantha F at January 19, 2008 10:43 AM
A small aircraft in flight at 43°03'23.42"N 88°15'18.92"W, and a shadow-only landing at 32°55'01.23"N 97°01'34.77"W.
Posted by: Steve M at April 17, 2008 08:55 PM
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Guess you have to have an account to login to the keyhole BBS? I have wondered what those colored "shadows" were from. :)