Cannot pull in live data from API for the flights

[lukemenziesAA]

Hi,

I am trying to pull in live data from the API for the flights but it keeps returning a null response in the live section of the json.

I am using the following command

https://api.aviationstack.com/v1/flights?access_key=*access_kay*&limit=10&offset=0

I am using a basic plan? I get the following response

{ "pagination": { "limit": 10, "offset": 0, "count": 10, "total": 9594200 }, "data": [ ... { "flight_date": "2022-05-18", "flight_status": "scheduled", "departure": { "airport": "Kingsford Smith", "timezone": "Australia/Sydney", "iata": "SYD", "icao": "YSSY", "terminal": null, "gate": null, "delay": null, "scheduled": "2022-05-18T03:15:00+00:00", "estimated": "2022-05-18T03:15:00+00:00", "actual": null, "estimated_runway": null, "actual_runway": null }, "arrival": { "airport": "Adelaide International Airport", "timezone": "Australia/Adelaide", "iata": "ADL", "icao": "YPAD", "terminal": null, "gate": null, "baggage": null, "delay": null, "scheduled": "2022-05-18T05:00:00+00:00", "estimated": "2022-05-18T05:00:00+00:00", "actual": null, "estimated_runway": null, "actual_runway": null }, "airline": { "name": "Qantas", "iata": "QF", "icao": "QFA" }, "flight": { "number": "7448", "iata": "QF7448", "icao": "QFA7448", "codeshared": null }, "aircraft": null, "live": null } ] }

If someone can give some insight into what is going wrong, I would be most grateful.

Thanks

Luke

[jinxyCat14]

Luke,

'live' is null when there is no live data for the flight (not being cute)

This makes sense because look at the "flight_status" variable - its "scheduled" which means the aircraft hasn't taken off, it just has a flight plan filed, definitely isn't airborne.

If you're only looking for live data then filter your API request to 'flight_status' : 'active' to only get flights that are currently in the air which have a better chance of containing 'live' data which will look something like this instead of null: 'live': {'updated': '2022-10-07T22:41:04+00:00', 'latitude': 56.11, 'longitude': 40.45, 'altitude': 10668, 'direction': 88, 'speed_horizontal': 926, 'speed_vertical': 0, 'is_ground': False}}]

Hope this helps! I've been knee deep in this API for a class so getting fairly familiar with it, let me know if you have other questions!

-jinxyCat14

[CoreyBin]

Luke,

'live' is null when there is no live data for the flight (not being cute)

This makes sense because look at the "flight_status" variable - its "scheduled" which means the aircraft hasn't taken off, it just has a flight plan filed, definitely isn't airborne.

If you're only looking for live data then filter your API request to 'flight_status' : 'active' to only get flights that are currently in the air which have a better chance of containing 'live' data which will look something like this instead of null: 'live': {'updated': '2022-10-07T22:41:04+00:00', 'latitude': 56.11, 'longitude': 40.45, 'altitude': 10668, 'direction': 88, 'speed_horizontal': 926, 'speed_vertical': 0, 'is_ground': False}}]

Hope this helps! I've been knee deep in this API for a class so getting fairly familiar with it, let me know if you have other questions!

-jinxyCat14

Hi jinxyCat14,

If the lack of real-time data is understandable, then why is the data of aircraft also null, I need this data.So I'm trying to figure this out.

Looking forward to your reply.

Jaryn

[jinxyCat14]

Good question, the other fields that are null are all sections that may not be populated yet. A flight that is only scheduled obviously doesn’t have any ‘actual’ data - it only exists inside the computer system. The null fields will become filled with data when the flight becomes ‘active’. -jinxyCat14

[JonasJ96]

Did you ever figure this out? @lukemenziesAA I have having the same issue, it is also present for ''active'' flights..

[alihamza-14]

I am getting same for flight_status=active,

{ "pagination": { "limit": 100, "offset": 0, "count": 100, "total": 454057 }, "data": [ { "flight_date": "2024-03-30", "flight_status": "active", "departure": { "airport": "King Khaled International", "timezone": "Asia/Riyadh", "iata": "RUH", "icao": "OERK", "terminal": "T4", "gate": null, "delay": 11, "scheduled": "2024-03-30T09:55:00+00:00", "estimated": "2024-03-30T09:55:00+00:00", "actual": "2024-03-30T10:05:00+00:00", "estimated_runway": "2024-03-30T10:05:00+00:00", "actual_runway": "2024-03-30T10:05:00+00:00" }, "arrival": { "airport": "Istanbul Airport", "timezone": "Europe/Istanbul", "iata": "IST", "icao": "LTFM", "terminal": "1", "gate": null, "baggage": "25", "delay": null, "scheduled": "2024-03-30T14:50:00+00:00", "estimated": "2024-03-30T14:50:00+00:00", "actual": null, "estimated_runway": null, "actual_runway": null }, "airline": { "name": "Aeroflot", "iata": "SU", "icao": "AFL" }, "flight": { "number": "4115", "iata": "SU4115", "icao": "AFL4115", "codeshared": { "airline_name": "saudia", "airline_iata": "sv", "airline_icao": "sva", "flight_number": "263", "flight_iata": "sv263", "flight_icao": "sva263" } }, "aircraft": null, "live": null },

please tell how to get live coordinates if someone figured  it out?

[alihamza-14]

@JonasJ96 @lukemenziesAA did you guys find solution?

[jinxyCat14]

@alihamza-14 haven't touched the API in over a year but just ran another API pull.

Best I can guess is that the majority of 'active' flights that do not have "live" information. I only have the free version so can't get you better stats but only 5 of the 100 flights had updated 'live' info with a lat/long the rest were null. Of those 5 with live data only 4 were in the air with one on the ground.

Hopefully that helps? -jinxyCat14