WebTrak Outage Log

A running record of observed outages, frozen updates, missing tracks, stalled timestamps, and implausibly low movement totals on Toronto Pearson’s public WebTrak portal.

Status: Draft evidence log. Additional captures and historical incidents will be added as archived.
TL;DR: When WebTrak fails or under-reports activity, residents lose the ability to independently verify flight activity, runway use, night operations, and unusual events.

Observed anomaly pattern

Some incidents involve not only frozen displays, but implausibly low or zero hourly movement totals during normal operating periods.

Why this matters

  • Transparency: WebTrak is presented as a public accountability tool.
  • Verification: Residents use it to review aircraft activity affecting their communities.
  • Oversight: Missing data can obstruct review of runway use, night flights, go-arounds, and operational anomalies.

Incident Log

Date Approx. start Approx. end Observation Evidence Notes
2026-01-31 ~15:00 Unknown Historical replay appears to stop updating after approximately 15:00. Flight tracks freeze and no new activity is displayed. Screenshot WT-001 Historical replay mode.
2026-02-24 ~07:30 Unknown Publicly acknowledged WebTrak flight-track outage affecting access to live public flight data. Supporting record WT-002 Referenced in correspondence to GTAA.
2026-04-15 18:00 Unknown WebTrak hourly movement display shows only four aircraft movements during the 18:00 hour. This appears materially inconsistent with expected late-afternoon operations at a major international airport and suggests missing or incomplete public data. Screenshot WT-003 Potential under-reporting window.
2026-04-28 17:00 Unknown WebTrak hourly movement display shows zero aircraft movements during the 17:00 hour. Given Pearson’s normal operating profile, this strongly suggests a reporting outage or data failure rather than an actual absence of aircraft activity. Screenshot WT-004 Zero reported movements during a normal operating hour.

Note: New incidents are assigned sequential exhibit IDs (WT-001, WT-002, WT-003…).

Context

WebTrak is one of the principal public-facing tools residents can use to review aircraft activity around Toronto Pearson. When it freezes, omits tracks, or reports implausibly low totals, the public record is weakened even though aircraft operations continue.

This is particularly relevant for reviewing night flights, runway use, concentrated routing, go-arounds, and other operational impacts affecting surrounding communities.

Related evidence

Separate from WebTrak, Pearson’s Noise Monitoring Terminal network has also shown outages, invalid readings, and reporting failures.

Noise Monitoring at Pearson

Exhibit List

Method note: Times are approximate and recorded in local time. Incidents are logged when WebTrak stops updating, displays implausibly low movement totals, omits visible activity, or otherwise appears inconsistent with expected airport operations. Supporting screenshots and records are retained as exhibits.


Pearson Accountability Alliance

Independent Environmental & Public Health Research for Toronto Pearson Communities.