Sometime this month, homeowners surrounding the Boca Raton (Fla.) Airport (BCT) should be able to go to a Web site if they have a complaint about a noisy aircraft. Developed by Megadata of Greenwich, Conn., AirportMonitor software displays departing, arriving and overflying aircraft traffic with a detailed overlay map of the streets neighboring the airport up to 96 mi away. Site visitors can click on an aircraft icon to see a readout of aircraft type, speed and altitude. For security reasons, there is a 10-min delay built into the display software. Additionally, Web visitors can wait an hour, then access an aircraft’s flight number or tail number, origin and destination. AirportMonitor is already in place at Los Angeles International and Louisville International Airports. The city of Boca Raton will pay $1,000 per month to lease the traffic display from Megadata.

An official for Megadata told AIN that the company installs antennas around airports with receivers to read transmissions from aircraft transponders. Data on tail numbers or airline flight numbers currently comes from FAA-issued aircraft situation display (ASD) software, but the official said that data is included on mode-S transponder transmissions that can be read by the company’s receivers. Tail numbers can be blocked on aircraft data that comes from ASD, but mode-S transponders would have to be modified to eliminate that information about a particular aircraft or airline flight.