There’s Now A Pokémon Go For Airplanes, And I Can’t Stop Playing

I’ve never been an airplane person. I think that’s because throughout my life, most of my experiences with planes have been me in a tight seat with an inflated ticket price, no legroom, dubious ergonomics, and a bunch of people who should have stayed home. (I’m looking at you, lady with no shoes on and guy who didn’t flush the toilet.) But my friends and I travel a lot now, and I find that as we orbit the age of 30, we have become obsessively interested in two things: birds and planes.

For a few months, I had my plane obsession under control. I’d occasionally look stuff up on Wikipedia, like the rarity of a Boeing Dreamlifter or the story of Tex Johnston’s unpermitted 1955 barrel roll during a test flight in a commercial jet. Other than that, my craving for plane knowledge wasn’t taking over my life.

Then, a friend texted me a link to a new phone app: Skycards, which turns data from popular plane tracker Flight Radar into Pokémon Go for airplanes. My plane obsession is no longer under control.

I’ve only been an airplane fan for a few months now, and I would describe my level of knowledge as “a child who just got their first book on the topic.” I can look at a plane in the sky, say “Bombardier CRJ-700,” then look at Flight Radar and confirm I’m correct. I can also see certain special aircraft, like the Antonov AN-124 Ruslan cargo carrier, and say: “That is a very rare and large plane that can load through the nose. Also, Antonov is a Ukrainian manufacturer that made the AN-225 Mriya, which was the world’s largest plane before Russia destroyed it a few years ago.”

I cannot, however, tell you much about these planes. To translate this into the car world, I equate my current level of plane knowledge to being able to identify certain vehicles and what makes them special — the C8 is the first mid-engine Chevy Corvette, the Mercedes AMG-One has a Formula One engine — without being able to tell you technical specs or how to operate those vehicles. I’m clueless but passionate, and that’s a fun way to be.

Skycards is making me even more obsessed. It’s a new app by Flight Radar, and the premise is simple: The app has a radar circle around your current location, and you’re able to “catch” planes in that circle.

There are five color-coded categories of planes on the map, based on how many models exist: common, uncommon, scarce, rare, and ultra. You catch a plane by taking a virtual-reality photo of it, and your “camera film” reloads with five photos every 20 minutes or so. You can buy coins for more features, but there are currently no ads.

Every time you catch a plane flying to a new airport, you “unlock” the ability to travel to that airport and catch planes with coins you earn. Every time you catch a new plane, you get a trading card for that plane. You’re then able to use your deck of cards to “battle” other users in categories like longest wingspan, earliest flight, most seats, highest speed, and more.

You can also look at any plane on the map, whether it’s in your circle or not, and open “Airpedia”: a list of stats about the plane, like its first flight, dimensions, max speed, flight ceiling, seats, rarity, and total number of aircraft in the world. Some planes have thousands of models. Some have just one.

For me, every function of the app is enjoyable: battling people; collecting new planes; finding rare planes; and even seeing a plane overhead, opening the app, and immediately being able to look at its stats. I get to interact with real, live planes and flights, both thousands of miles away and right over my head. It rocks.

I downloaded Skycards less than a week ago. Since then, I’ve caught 353 distinct makes and models of airplane and unlocked 164 airports. I virtually travel to Oshkosh, Wisconsin daily because there are tons of rare military planes there, and I have multiple group and individual text chains about the app.

“We should take a trip to Oshkosh for real,” one of my friends said today.

Before I could say “Yes,” which was my answer, I sent an urgent screenshot of a rare, one-of-16 plane and said: “At Oshkosh right now.”

I’m even tracking a plane locally as I type this, because it’s a rare one that’s about to enter my radar. I don’t want to virtually miss it. (It’s also coming toward my house, and I’ll run outside if it flies overhead.)

I can’t pinpoint why I’ve become such an airplane person. Maybe it’s because my friend group travels a lot, and our frequent-flyer statuses give us access to slightly more comfortable seats. Maybe it’s because we’ve spent three decades on the ground and are now fascinated by the miracle of flight. Maybe there’s just a chemical in the body that develops at age 30 and gives you hobbies like planes, trains, and birds. (I already have automobiles.)

Whatever the reason, my newfound fascination with planes is so gripping that I’m glued to Skycards.

The thing about being new to a passion is that there’s always something to discover. You don’t have to dig deeper and deeper every time you want to learn something new, because everything is new. When everything is new, the world is a little more interesting.

So, yes, I can identify that CRJ-700 flying by right now. I can’t tell you much about it, and I certainly can’t fly it, but I am working on it.

Ask me again in a few years — once I’m done with my Skycards session, of course.