ADS-B Aircraft Tracking

Get live aircraft positions from ADS-B receivers with optional filtering by ICAO24 hex, callsign, location radius, bounding box, altitude, speed, registration, or airline. Aircraft data is enriched from a 615,000+ record registry.

v2 limitation: No photos parameter on live aircraft — photo_url is always null. For thumbnail enrichment, use the v3 ADS-B API.

Requirements

Auth

x-api-key on every request (direct subscription). Learn more →

Endpoint	When to use
`GET /v2/adsb/aircraft`	Live positions — map tiles, traffic boards, filtered feeds
`GET /v2/adsb/aircraft/statistics`	Fleet-wide aggregates — airborne vs on-ground, altitude stats
`GET /v2/adsb/health`	Feed health — connection status and active aircraft count

Live aircraft

Request

GEThttps://data.skylinkapi.com/v2/adsb/aircraft

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`icao24`	string	No	-	Filter by 6-character hex transponder address
`callsign`	string	No	-	Partial callsign match (case-insensitive)
`lat`	number	No	-	Centre latitude for radius search
`lon`	number	No	-	Centre longitude for radius search
`radius`	number	No	-	Search radius in kilometres (max 1000)
`bbox`	string	No	-	Bounding box `lat1,lon1,lat2,lon2` — SW corner first
`min_alt`	number	No	-	Minimum altitude in feet
`max_alt`	number	No	-	Maximum altitude in feet
`min_speed`	number	No	-	Minimum ground speed in knots
`max_speed`	number	No	-	Maximum ground speed in knots
`registration`	string	No	-	Filter by tail number
`airline`	string	No	-	Filter by operating airline name

v2 limitation: No photos, limit, or offset parameters — returns the full matched set (use geo filters to bound size). For pagination and optional aircraft photos, use v3 ADS-B.

Filter combination rules — do not mix circle and bbox:

Mode	Parameters
Circle	`lat` + `lon` + `radius` (all three)
Rectangle	`bbox` only
None	No geo filter

Response

{
  "aircraft": [
    {
      "icao24": "0A0022",
      "callsign": "DAH2055",
      "latitude": 51.274109,
      "longitude": -0.675964,
      "altitude": 9075.0,
      "ground_speed": 298.3,
      "track": 153.09,
      "vertical_rate": 2880.0,
      "is_on_ground": false,
      "last_seen": "2026-06-16T14:21:45.674566",
      "first_seen": "2026-06-16T14:17:09.312068",
      "registration": "7T-VJP",
      "aircraft_type": "Boeing B738",
      "airline": "Air Algerie",
      "photo_url": null
    }
  ],
  "total_count": 67,
  "timestamp": "2026-06-16T14:21:49.178448"
}

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`icao24`	string	Never	ICAO 24-bit hex identifier
`callsign`	string	Yes	Flight callsign
`latitude`	number	Yes	WGS-84 latitude
`longitude`	number	Yes	WGS-84 longitude
`altitude`	number	Yes	Barometric altitude in feet MSL
`ground_speed`	number	Yes	Ground speed in knots
`track`	number	Yes	Track angle in degrees (0–360)
`vertical_rate`	number	Yes	Vertical rate in feet per minute
`is_on_ground`	boolean	Yes	`true` when on the surface
`last_seen`	string	Never	Last observation time (ISO 8601)
`registration`	string	Yes	Tail number when resolved
`aircraft_type`	string	Yes	Type description
`airline`	string	Yes	Operating airline
`photo_url`	string	Yes	Always `null` in v2

Authorization

x-api-key<token>

Your SkyLink licence key, for keys bought direct from skylinkapi.com.

In: header

Query Parameters

icao24?|

Filter by specific ICAO 24-bit aircraft identifier (6 hex characters)

callsign?|

Filter by flight callsign (partial match, case-insensitive)

lat?|

Center latitude for radius search (requires lon and radius)

lon?|

Center longitude for radius search (requires lat and radius)

radius?|

Search radius in kilometers (requires lat and lon)

bbox?|

Bounding box as 'lat1,lon1,lat2,lon2' (southwest,northeast corners)

min_alt?|

Minimum altitude in feet

max_alt?|

Maximum altitude in feet

min_speed?|

Minimum ground speed in knots

max_speed?|

Maximum ground speed in knots

registration?|

Filter by aircraft registration (if enrichment data available)

airline?|

Filter by operating airline (if enrichment data available)

Response Body

`application/json`

curl -X GET "https://data.skylinkapi.com/v2/adsb/aircraft"

{
  "aircraft": [
    {
      "icao24": "A12345",
      "callsign": "BAW123",
      "latitude": 51.4706,
      "longitude": -0.4619,
      "altitude": 35000,
      "ground_speed": 450.5,
      "track": 89.2,
      "vertical_rate": 0,
      "is_on_ground": false,
      "last_seen": "2025-09-27T12:00:00Z",
      "first_seen": "2025-09-27T11:45:00Z",
      "registration": "G-ABCD",
      "aircraft_type": "Boeing 777-300ER",
      "airline": "British Airways"
    }
  ],
  "total_count": 4691,
  "timestamp": "2025-09-27T12:00:30Z"
}

{
  "error": "string",
  "detail": "string",
  "timestamp": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}

{
  "detail": [
    {
      "loc": [
        "string"
      ],
      "msg": "string",
      "type": "string",
      "input": null,
      "ctx": {}
    }
  ]
}

{
  "error": "string",
  "detail": "string",
  "timestamp": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}

Tracking statistics

Aggregate statistics about the currently tracked fleet — total aircraft, on-ground vs airborne counts, and altitude summary.

Request

GEThttps://data.skylinkapi.com/v2/adsb/aircraft/statistics

No query or path parameters.

Response

{
  "total_aircraft": 4691,
  "positioned_aircraft": 4666,
  "on_ground": 153,
  "airborne": 4513,
  "altitude_stats": {
    "min_altitude": 125,
    "max_altitude": 58500,
    "avg_altitude": 25848.3
  },
  "timestamp": "2025-09-27T12:00:30Z"
}

Field	Type	Description
`total_aircraft`	integer	Total tracked aircraft
`positioned_aircraft`	integer	Aircraft with a known position
`on_ground`	integer	Aircraft flagged on ground
`airborne`	integer	Aircraft flagged airborne
`altitude_stats`	object	Fleet altitude summary
`altitude_stats.min_altitude`	number	Minimum reported altitude (feet)
`altitude_stats.max_altitude`	number	Maximum reported altitude (feet)
`altitude_stats.avg_altitude`	number	Mean altitude across fleet (feet)
`timestamp`	string (ISO 8601)	Snapshot time

Authorization

x-api-key<token>

Your SkyLink licence key, for keys bought direct from skylinkapi.com.

In: header

Response Body

`application/json`

curl -X GET "https://data.skylinkapi.com/v2/adsb/aircraft/statistics"

{
  "total_aircraft": 4691,
  "positioned_aircraft": 4666,
  "on_ground": 153,
  "airborne": 4513,
  "altitude_stats": {
    "min_altitude": 125,
    "max_altitude": 58500,
    "avg_altitude": 25848.3
  },
  "timestamp": "2025-09-27T12:00:30Z"
}

{
  "error": "string",
  "detail": "string",
  "timestamp": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}

{
  "error": "string",
  "detail": "string",
  "timestamp": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}

Service health

Returns ADS-B connection status and active aircraft count. Use for uptime monitoring before starting a polling loop.

Request

GEThttps://data.skylinkapi.com/v2/adsb/health

No query or path parameters.

Response

{
  "status": "healthy",
  "connected": true,
  "active_aircraft_count": 9889,
  "connection_uptime": null,
  "last_message_received": "2026-06-16T14:21:46.212802"
}

Field	Type	Null?	Description
`status`	string	Never	Service status label, e.g. `healthy`
`connected`	boolean	Never	Whether the ADS-B hub connection is active
`active_aircraft_count`	integer	Never	Currently tracked aircraft
`connection_uptime`	number	Yes	Uptime in seconds when available
`last_message_received`	string (ISO 8601)	Yes	Last message timestamp from the feed

Authorization

x-api-key<token>

Your SkyLink licence key, for keys bought direct from skylinkapi.com.

In: header

Response Body

`application/json`

curl -X GET "https://data.skylinkapi.com/v2/adsb/health"

{
  "status": "string",
  "connected": true,
  "active_aircraft_count": 0,
  "connection_uptime": 0,
  "last_message_received": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}

{
  "error": "string",
  "detail": "string",
  "timestamp": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}

{
  "error": "string",
  "detail": "string",
  "timestamp": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}

Implementation notes

Polling interval. Poll live aircraft every 5–15 seconds. Faster polling rarely improves freshness.

Bounding queries. Always pass a geo filter for map views — unfiltered queries return large payloads.

Error responses

404 — ICAO24 filter not found (live aircraft)

When filtering by icao24 and no aircraft matches:

{
  "error": "Aircraft not found",
  "detail": "No aircraft found with ICAO24 000000"
}

Related: v3 ADS-B · Getting Started

Live aircraft

Request

Response

Authorization

Query Parameters

Response Body

200application/json

404application/json

422application/json

500application/json

Tracking statistics

Request

Response

Authorization

Response Body

200application/json

404application/json

500application/json

Service health

Request

Response

Authorization

Response Body

200application/json

404application/json

500application/json

Implementation notes

Error responses

404 — ICAO24 filter not found (live aircraft)

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