The Lawton Town Crier has added a new tool to our website: a live aircraft tracker that lets you see planes passing over Lawton and southwest Oklahoma in near real time.
If you’ve ever heard a jet overhead, seen a blinking light crossing the night sky, or watched the Goodyear blimp drift by and wondered, “What is that, and where is it going?”—this tool is for you.
What is ADS-B and how does this tracker work?
The map is powered by a technology called ADS-B, which stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast. Modern aircraft continuously broadcast their:
- Position (latitude/longitude)
- Altitude
- Ground speed and direction
- Callsign or flight number
Those signals go out over public radio frequencies. Anyone with an antenna, receiver, and the right software can pick them up. That’s exactly what we’re doing.
The Lawton Town Crier operates a local ADS-B receiver and antenna here in southwest Oklahoma. We use open-source software to decode those signals and display them on a map, which we’ve now embedded on our website. Each little airplane icon you see on the map represents a real aircraft in the sky above us, updated every few seconds.
This is open-source, publicly available information—the same kind that powers many of the big flight-tracking websites you may already know. We’re not tapping into anything secret or private; we’re simply listening to what aircraft are already broadcasting for safety and air traffic control.
Why this matters to more than just aviation nerds
Yes, this is absolutely catnip for aviation geeks, radar watchers, and people who just like to know what’s buzzing overhead.
But it’s also a real asset to the community.
- When you hear sirens and see a helicopter circling, the tracker can often show whether it’s a medical helicopter, a law enforcement aircraft, or something else entirely.
- When you see long lines of transports or tankers in the sky, the tracker can help give context to troop movements and training activity tied to Fort Sill and other military operations in our region.
- When unusual aircraft come through—like the Goodyear blimp or specialty cargo planes—people can see them on the map, grab photos, and share what they’re seeing with neighbors.
In other words, this isn’t just about “planes for the sake of planes.” It’s another piece of the puzzle when we try to understand what’s happening in and around Lawton on any given day.
A prime spot for interesting aircraft
Lawton and southwest Oklahoma sit in a surprisingly busy patch of sky. We see:
- Civilian airline traffic criss-crossing the region
- General aviation flights—small private planes, training flights, and business jets
- Military traffic tied to Fort Sill and other operations in the state and beyond
- Occasional special visitors like the Goodyear blimp or other high-interest aircraft
Because of our location, this map isn’t just a static novelty. On a normal day, you might see commercial flights at cruise altitude, training flights working patterns, and low-level aircraft cutting across the region—all layered over the communities we live in.
Serving a broad audience, not just one niche
One of the challenges of running a local news outlet is that what counts as “interesting” or “news” isn’t the same for everyone.
Some people care deeply about city budgets and bond issues. Others tune in when there’s a major crash, a storm, or a big event. And some people light up when we post things about infrastructure, maps, or tools like this ADS-B tracker.
Our goal at the Lawton Town Crier is to serve all of those audiences:
- The folks who want nuts-and-bolts city hall coverage
- The residents who want to understand public safety, utilities, and growth
- And yes, the people who want to connect the dots between what’s overhead, what’s on the streets, and what’s in the council chambers
Tools like this tracker help us do that. They provide raw, independent data that can support future stories about noise complaints, training patterns, emergency responses, or regional traffic. They also let curious residents explore on their own without waiting for a headline.
Paying attention to the pieces of our community
In a time when the world feels louder and busier than ever, paying attention to what’s around us matters. The aircraft in our sky are connected to:
- Jobs and commerce
- Military training and national defense
- Emergency services and medical transport
- Tourism, events, and everyday travel
When we add a tool like this to the Lawton Town Crier, we’re not just adding a shiny gadget. We’re adding another way for people to see how the different pieces of our community fit together—from the ground to the air.
The ADS-B tracker is now live on our site. Click around, follow a few flights, and see what’s moving above Lawton tonight. And as always, if you spot something interesting, feel free to send us a note or a screenshot—because sometimes what looks like a curiosity to one person is the start of a news story for everyone else.