The Charm of Aviation Apps

When someone you love takes to the skies how can you still stay connected? Aviation apps.

Goodbye-for-now hugs at the airport.

My husband, son and I had returned home from the airport after dropping off my mom and daughter at SFO's International Departures a half-an-hour before. I already missed them and knew a way to stay connected.

Listening to the LiveATC app on my cellphone, I heard the tower clear British Airways 286 for takeoff. I clicked on the plane-shaped icon of the flight and watched as it accelerated along the line of the runway and lifted into the sky, its elevation ticking upwards.

I had only about a minute to get into place.

"Too the deck!" I shouted.

All three of us rushed out onto the upstairs deck and peered into the gray clouds spread out in a thick blanket about 2,000 feet above our heads. We could hear the engines of a 777 lumber upward somewhere above us and toward the sea, heading North on its way to LHR - London Heathrow in England. Aboard was our Gogo and our daughter, Boone's sister.

Gogo is our name for grandma. My mother and daughter were beginning a two week adventure to England and Ireland to celebrate Emma finishing middle school. My mother being 80 and my daughter 13, I was trepidatious about the outcome of the trip, but hearing the thrust of the airliner propelled my excitement.

I took screen shots of the flight path and sent them to my daughter's cell for her to know not only were we thinking of her

but we were also watching over her progress.

Gogo was impressed with British Airways and reported that they enjoyed the flight, especially the way "the food kept on coming." And, no, they certainly were not flying First Class.

For the return, two weeks later, we were the designated airport pick up. Using flightradar24, I timed our drive to the airport according to their updated ETA. The soundtrack for the drive was LiveATC on the SFO tower channell. With my husband driving, I could watch their flight, AA15, descend altitude and enter its approach to Runway 28.

From previous experience I knew that the pilots would make a call once they were over the Dumbarton Bridge, crossing the southern reaches of the San Francisco Bay, about 15 miles out from SFO. I watched my cell phone screen and listened to the voices coming over the car speakers.

While still a few freeway exits from the airport, the pilots made the call and tower cleared the American Airlines flight to land. After the wheels hit the tarmack, they would taxi to their gate, if it wasn't already taken, and deplane just under 200 passengers. We had plenty of time.

Just knowing they were back on the ground, on home turf, was a relief I was thankful for.

Using the aviation apps, we had gone on a parallel adventure, albeit a minor version of their much grander voyage, and found it fulfilling and thrilling. Highly recommend!

We're hoping next time to be able to take a photo of the airliner passing by -- out of reach but not out of touch.