About Syncing Pilots
Live paraglider tracking for the whole crew.
What is this?
Syncing Pilots pulls live GPS data from pilots' satellite trackers and puts it on a map — so you can watch your friends fly, check where someone landed for pickup, or follow a competition remotely. We support two types of devices: Garmin inReach and SPOT trackers. Both broadcast your location over satellite networks even when there's no cell coverage.
How the sync works
Your tracker sends location pings on a schedule you set — typically every 2–10 minutes. Those pings go to Garmin or SPOT's servers via satellite. Our sync worker checks those servers and saves new points to our database as they come in.
Your tracker sends a ping
GPS coordinates are transmitted via satellite to Garmin or SPOT's servers. Typical intervals: 2–10 minutes depending on your device settings.
Our sync worker picks it up
We check Garmin and SPOT feeds every 2 minutes. Pilots with active trackers are checked first. Pilots who fly regularly are checked every 20 minutes. Occasional pilots are checked every few hours.
Position appears on the map
New GPS points are stored with altitude, speed, course, and terrain elevation. We calculate height above ground (AGL) to determine if you're in flight or on the ground.
Your browser refreshes every 30 seconds
The Sky Feed and map automatically re-fetch data while you're watching — no need to reload the page.
How fresh is the data?
How quickly your position appears depends on your sync tier:
When your device starts sending, you're automatically promoted to a faster tier. You can also manually boost to Active in your Settings before heading out.
Why might data be delayed?
- Tracker interval: Your device's tracking rate sets the ceiling — a 10-minute interval means one point every 10 minutes at best.
- Sync tier: If you haven't tracked recently, you may be in the Idle or Dormant tier. Boost to Active in Settings before your flight.
- Satellite delay: In rare cases, the Iridium or Globalstar satellite networks may delay message delivery.
Supported devices
Garmin inReach
Mini, Mini 2, Explorer+, SE+, and other inReach models. Uses Garmin MapShare public feed. Requires MapShare to be enabled in your Garmin Explore account.
SPOT Tracker
SPOT Gen3, Gen4, Trace, and X. Uses the FindMeSpot public message API. Requires sharing to be enabled in your SPOT account.
Privacy
We only access data that pilots have made public through their device's sharing settings. If your Garmin MapShare link is private (password-protected) or your SPOT feed is disabled, we cannot see your data. Pilots are added to the directory manually — we don't scrape or harvest tracking IDs automatically. See our Privacy Policy for details.
Getting your tracker listed
To have your flights tracked on Syncing Pilots, your device needs to be added to the directory. Once you're in the directory, you can claim your profile to link it to your account — then your flights appear under your name and you can manage your information.
To claim a profile, send a message from your tracker that contains your 8-character verification code (shown on the Claim Profile page). Our sync worker detects the code automatically and links the profile to your account.