Also re: flight tracking sites, it might be worth noting that the data are typically delayed by about 20 minutes or so from real time, I assume for security purposes(?).

I was on the net when that Southwest jet took off from BOS and had to come back with landing gear problems. As my wife watched CNN make breathless reports while the plane burned off fuel, I was able to watch it on flightaware.com as it circled over Gloucester. When CNN said, "we expect the landing any minute now," I could tell the jet was still in its holding pattern and tell my wife, "No, it's going to be some time yet." When CNN said "The jet is circling the Boston airport, I could tell my wife, "No, actually it's over northern Massachusetts right now." When CNN said "the jet's circling at 5000 feet," I could say, "Okay, they got that one essentially right." Then CNN said the only info they really had on the flight was from flightaware.com, and within a minute or two the site was shut down from the resulting traffic overload. Luckily, I had a backup site that shows flight traffic in the vicinity of various airports, including BOS, and this one was still operating. Then, as I was telling my wife, "okay, he's lined up for his approach, and they've cleared out other landing traffic," CNN was showing the landing. So much for the sense of importance I was trying to build up for my wife as a source of accurate information more up-to-the-minute than CNN!