Determining the whereabouts of an aircraft or its registration status used to involve a lengthy freedom of information process with the Federal Aviation Administration. No longer. FlightAware is a web site that offers free air tracking services. After registering with the web site, the general public can access both flight tracking and planning tools, including:

• Flight tracking by aircraft by tail number, airplane identifier or airline name and number.

• Air activity for an airport, airline or aircraft type.

• Information about airport layouts, procedures and services (fuel, mechanics, etc.).

• Access to aircraft registrations and photos.

FlightAware also offers expanded services for a fee that could be useful as public records, including:

• Downloadable flight history for an airport or aircraft.

• Monitoring of a specific aircraft.

FlightAware is not the only web resource for this type of data. Other options include FlightArrivals.com and Airliners.net.