Airloom
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 6 flight trackers by recommenders
Praised as a smooth, striking 3D viewer of live aircraft; critics say it is more a novelty to look at than a practical tool like FlightAware.
Praised as a smooth, striking 3D viewer of live aircraft; critics say it is more a novelty to look at than a practical tool like FlightAware.
38 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 34
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 34 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 8.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Striking, beautiful 3D visualization
“This website is really cool; I love its clean and clear information display.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “Just a way to make the world seem smaller!”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “I converted 2D conventional flight tracking into 3D” “Wow, great idea well executed, congrats”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” - Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker”
- Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker”
- Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker”
- Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker”
Accurate match to real flights
“It looks completely accurate. I could see the medivac helicopters taking off, and it matched 1:1.”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “It looks completely accurate.”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” Smooth on mobile devices
“Buttery smooth on mobile (iPhone 14), but the slider thumbs have a vertical alignment issue”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “Buttery smooth on mobile (iPhone 14)”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” Cockpit view and trails
“I love turning the trail length up and watching the air traffic patterns”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “Commands are not that handy but ... it's cool to have the cockpit view”
Comment from 11 Apr 2026 in “Every plane you see in the sky – you can now follow it from the cockpit in 3D”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Little practical use beyond viewing
“it may not have enough details to be of practical use to pilots and air traffic controllers”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “this UI doesn't add much that the color-coded plane icons on ADS-Bx don't already do”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “it's more of a neat thing to look at than it is a useful tool like Flightaware”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” Rendering glitches and stutter
“Very nice. My only feedback is that on a 2017 iMac (Radeon Pro 580), while rotating around, there is a brief hiccup every 1 second.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “when I look at the ATL area right now, it looks like aircraft are clipping through the ground at takeoff and landing”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” Loading problems and coverage gaps
“had noted the world-tiles would regularly not load, seems okay (and with colors?) now”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “It just sits at "Initializing 3D Space". I don't get anything else.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “it doesn't seem to show most flights or airports in africa”
Comment from 11 Apr 2026 in “Every plane you see in the sky – you can now follow it from the cockpit in 3D” Slow pinch zoom
“zooming by pinch on a MacBook trackpad is painfully slow”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker” “However you're treating zoom inputs, you've got the opposite effect. A full zoom motion barely does anything.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Airloom – 3D Flight Tracker”
Other flight trackers people recommend
The four most recommended other flight trackers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flighty | 42 | 16 | 72% | 6 | — | Approved |
| AirloomThis page | 34 | 4 | 89% | 4 | — | Approved |
| ADS-B Exchange | 8 | 5 | 62% | 7 | — | — |
| airplanes.live | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| Flightradar24 | 6 | 5 | 55% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
35 of the 43 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it doesn't seem to show most flights or airports in africa”
“Commands are not that handy but ... it's cool to have the cockpit view”
“thanks so so much for the tool, and I really hope it's bringing you as much benefit as it brought us!”
“Airloom solves this by not rendering trails until after the plane has moved.”
“Great app/site!! Only thing I'm missing is a jump to here button”
“Just a way to make the world seem smaller!”
“Another very nice 3D viewer for adsb info.”
“In my opinion this is the most practical approach for real world projects.”
“This allows using a normal programming environment (not possible in first approach) and being order independent (not possible in second approach).”
“I don't think the glow effect on the plane adds anything and somewhat obscures them.”
“it works at a decent speed”
“Very nice. My only feedback is that on a 2017 iMac (Radeon Pro 580), while rotating around, there is a brief hiccup every 1 second.”
“However you're treating zoom inputs, you've got the opposite effect. A full zoom motion barely does anything.”
“zooming by pinch on a MacBook trackpad is painfully slow”
“It just sits at "Initializing 3D Space". I don't get anything else.”
“I cant make air spaces work, but if you manage to render them properly with TMA, CTR, AWY and other stuff, this would be incredibly useful for students.”
“Buttery smooth on mobile (iPhone 14)”
“Buttery smooth on mobile (iPhone 14), but the slider thumbs have a vertical alignment issue”
“this UI doesn't add much that the color-coded plane icons on ADS-Bx don't already do”
“This website is really cool; I love its clean and clear information display.”
“Another bug: when you adjust altitude scale, it doesn't rescale the existing trails”
“this still loads at the random-US-airport first”
“I love turning the trail length up and watching the air traffic patterns”
“had noted the world-tiles would regularly not load, seems okay (and with colors?) now”
“it may not have enough details to be of practical use to pilots and air traffic controllers”
“when I look at the ATL area right now, it looks like aircraft are clipping through the ground at takeoff and landing”
“absolutely breathtaking solo project”
“A second monitor running this in surf mode might be a close second”
“this visualization blows my mind”
“it's more of a neat thing to look at than it is a useful tool like Flightaware”
“It looks completely accurate. I could see the medivac helicopters taking off, and it matched 1:1.”
“It looks completely accurate.”
“Like Google Earth for global airspace.”
“enough to understand the beauty of it”
“Wow, great idea well executed, congrats”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.