SFO Airport Tracking, August 18, 2025, Part 1

Hi, I'm Andy — the person behind Luftra Aviation. Welcome to the channel!

*** ATC Update: Only tower ATC communication @ 120.5 MHz included for now for more clarity ***

*** *Some quick updates, video description below
There has been great input from many for improvements (many thanks for that) that I am looking into , such as
Prioritizing certain aircraft for tracking (large/heavy vs small ones)
Jerkiness of label movement and occasional run-away events
repeated stop-and-go of the vertical (tilt) camera movement, though it's moving at the slowest tilt speed already
including labels for other things like terminals and ground vehicles
more information like origin and destination of tracked aircrafts
*******

For years, I’ve been planning to set up a camera overlooking San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and share the amazing activity happening there. Eventually, my passion got the better of me — and I finally made it happen.

But instead of just a static livestream of airport operations, I wanted to go a bit further. So I built a system that can track individual aircraft, overlay live flight data, and stream tower and ground radio communications from SFO — all in one real-time feed.

To make this possible, all flight data (including ADS-B and ATC) is collected on-site and fed into custom-built software. This software merges everything, identifies tracking targets, and controls the camera. Internal system delays are around 1 second — though streaming platforms like YouTube can introduce an additional ~20 seconds of delay due to buffering.

The project has now reached a point where I’m excited to share this live view of SFO with you. It’s still evolving — you might notice a few technical hiccups now and then — but I’m actively working on improvements.

Some upcoming features I’m excited about include:
✈️ Smarter target selection for tracking the more interesting aircraft types
✈️ Better camera performance and tracking logic
✈️ More flexible overlays and view modes

Currently, the stream features:
✈️ Real-time HD video with aircraft tracking
📡 Live ATC audio from SFO tower and ground
📋 Flight data overlays with callsigns, aircraft model, and flight data
🚀 Many more upgrades on the way

Your feedback means a lot — I want to keep improving the experience. And if you enjoy the stream, please consider subscribing to support the channel.

Cheers,
Andy