Local Flight by Beacon Tools

Airport-style flight boards for your own screens.

Local Flight runs on your computer or Raspberry Pi and shows departures, arrivals, radar, history, phone views, and LED matrix output for personal display setups.

Download releases Mobile apps Source on GitHub Support

Current beta: 0.2.7. Local Flight is not certified aviation software. Flight, radar, weather, map, relay, and mobile data may be delayed, incomplete, cached, wrong, or unavailable. Do not use it for navigation, dispatch, operational control, flight planning, professional aviation work, or safety decisions.

Ways to run it

Start with where the board should appear.

The same Local Flight install can drive a desktop window, a LAN browser screen, a Raspberry Pi kiosk, a phone app, or an LED matrix board.

Desktop

Use the packaged Windows or macOS app for the main flight board, local server, browser access, phone pairing, and LED matrix setup from one install.

Raspberry Pi

Run a small always-on display box as a headless server, HDMI kiosk, or browser kiosk for a dedicated board screen.

Mobile

The mobile app supports companion mode for a paired desktop/Pi server and a phone-only mode through the shared Beacon Tools relay. TestFlight and Play Store testing are coming soon.

Mobile details
What it can show

A practical board for arrivals, departures, and nearby traffic.

  • Guided setup for the shared Local Flight relay, your own aviation data keys, or VATSIM-only virtual traffic.
  • Airport-style departure and arrival boards with local time, weather, gates and status when available, codeshares, pinned flights, and several visual styles.
  • A radar view for real or virtual nearby traffic, with weather context, range controls, runway/map detail, and aircraft information.
  • VATSIM display mode for virtual-network boards, focused on callsigns, aircraft, routes, altitude, speed, and source freshness while avoiding pilot/controller personal identifiers.
  • History pages for recent movements, board patterns, filters, and local records kept on your own machine.
  • Phone pairing, LED matrix preview, generated matrix display files, local logs, settings, and consent-based diagnostics.
Screens

Display modes

Local Flight shell FIDS preview
Flight board (FIDS)Passenger-style rows, weather context, local/UTC timing, status labels, and display styles.

Windows and macOS

A packaged desktop app with board, radar, history, settings, phone pairing, and display styles.

LAN screen

Open the board from another browser, tablet, Raspberry Pi display, or room screen on your network.

Phone app

Companion and phone-only modes for board, radar, history, reports, and QR/manual pairing. TestFlight and Play Store testing are planned next.

LED matrix

Preview and generate display files for Interstate 75 W / HUB75 LED matrix panels.

Local Flight shell radar preview
RadarRange rings, selected aircraft, weather context, and nearby map detail.
Local Flight shell history preview
HistoryRecent movements, filters, totals, and route/airline patterns.
Local Flight shell settings preview
SettingsAirport setup, relay status, appearance, phone pairing, and diagnostics choices.
Local Flight shell Matrix preview
LED matrixPanel preview and generated files for a small physical board.
Shared relay

Shared data without every user managing aviation data keys.

Local Flight can use your own data keys, VATSIM-only virtual traffic, or the shared Beacon Tools relay.

Public relay URL

https://relay.beacontools.cc

What it does

The relay protects shared data keys, reuses cached airport boards, applies fair-use limits, and keeps personal display setups easier to start.

Privacy

Local first by default.

No accounts, no advertising SDKs, no data brokers, and no cross-app/site tracking.

Local data

Settings, API keys, board snapshots, history, logs, mobile appearance, and LED matrix settings stay local unless you choose a relay-backed feature or send a report.

Not for professional or safety-critical aviation use

Local Flight is an informational display tool only. Data may be delayed, incomplete, cached, wrong, or unavailable. Do not use it for navigation, dispatch, operational control, flight planning, professional aviation work, or safety decisions. Always use official aviation sources and certified systems for real-world operations.

General and support

Open support
Use the message form for questions, or the bug report form when details and logs would help.