Visualising the Skies: Air Loom Offers Immersive 3D Tracking Environment

New-Gen 3D Flight Tracking

Air Loom is an innovative addition to the world of free real-time flight tracking apps, offering aviation enthusiasts a more advanced and engaging experience than ever before. It is the next generation of three-dimensional flight tracking. It is set to rival traditional trackers like Flightradar24 and FlightAware.

This hobby project started a few months ago when the American private pilot and Aviation enthusiast Ben Limner decided to build a free app to track flights.

Convinced that existing flight apps couldn’t truly capture the three-dimensional “magic” of a plane’s path, Ben announced the app in a Reddit post (an American social news aggregation, web content rating forum, and social media platform where registered users submit content such as links, text posts, images, and videos) and frequently discussing it on Reddit communities like r/flying and r/ADSB.

He stated, “I wanted to see what all of the air traffic around me looked like in 3D. I was so curious what my local pattern looked like, and how busy the airspace seemed, so I went a little wild and made this toy I’m calling Air Loom”.

He highlighted that with this app, users can watch live air traffic create dynamic, interactive 3D visualisations. He added that allowing patterns to build over time makes cityscapes appear especially impressive. Also, users can filter the view to track the continental movements of their favourite fleets.

He explained that all data is sourced from free ADS-B feeds, so users are encouraged to contribute and help enrich the experience for everyone. According to his X account, the app has attracted 117,000 users over the past 90 days.

In a message addressed to Aljaweea, Ben said, “When I started this as a hobby project, I never imagined the response would be this overwhelming”, ، adding, “The volume of interest has been incredible, and honestly, a bit humbling. I want to thank Aeroplanes.live for providing the initial data that powered this platform. They run an amazing community-focused service for aviation enthusiasts”.

He revealed that he is working to secure a reliable commercial data provider for his passion project. There are many flight tracking applications that provide faster and more accurate updates than official channels regarding aircraft movements and locations, which can be valuable for rescue efforts in the event of an accident. So what makes this new tool special?

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Sharm El Sheikh International Airport – Air Loom 3D Flight Tracking / Credit: Ben Limner – Objective Unclear / Licence: Copyrighted (Fair Use) (Modified)

Rotatable Models and Dynamic Terrain

Air Loom provides an immersive, three-dimensional visualisation of global air traffic, displaying insights beyond the traditional two-dimensional maps we are used to seeing. The platform features 3D terrain that can be viewed as mesh or satellite images. The aircraft models are also 3D, whilst being fully rotatable and tilt-enabled. Users can therefore observe real-time flight parameters, such as altitude, direction, and holding patterns, from any angle.

Demystifying Complex Airspace

Uniquely, Air Loom incorporates an airspace feature for US airports that displays Class B, C, and D controlled airspace as translucent cylinders, effectively showing the complex “upside-down wedding cake” structure. This 3D, real-time display reveals the complex aircraft navigation and interaction within these critical regulated zones, which is traditionally challenging to grasp from flat aeronautical charts alone.

How Could Air Loom Change Airspace Training?

Beyond visualisations, Air Loom could be an exceptional educational tool, particularly for flight and air traffic control training. Features such as the 60,000+ airport database allow trainees to visualise operations at nearly any global airstrip, while the Record and Playback Tracks function is crucial for detailed post-flight debriefing and the study of complex air traffic flow. The reception from global educators has been enthusiastic, endorsing the platform as a “game changer for teaching airspace”, which underlines its power to help students visualise invisible corridors and restricted zones, ultimately clarifying the rationale behind air route and altitude structuring.

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Reno-Tahoe International Airport – Air Loom 3D Flight Tracking / Credit: Ben Limner – Objective Unclear / Licence: Copyrighted (Fair Use) (Modified)

From Vision to Vital Tool: Next Steps

This advanced visualisation capability is essential for regions like the Middle East, which serves as a vital global aviation hub requiring the highest level of training and technological development. But let’s not forget this is a very recent project. It was launched online in September 2025. Any serious use in both aviation education and the aviation industry would require further development.

MENA Data: A Call for Input

Ben Limner (Reddit username u/NoCompetition2044) (https://x.com/benlimner) welcomes user suggestions for website improvements, actively develops the project, shares frequent updates, and seeks feedback from the aviation and development communities. While all major global airports are included, airspace data for Middle Eastern airports is currently unavailable, but will be added as data becomes available. Middle Eastern professionals and enthusiasts can actually influence the tracker by contacting him on Reddit with their requests. We therefore encourage our Aljaweea readers to reach out and contribute towards the project.

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