FLIGHTRADAR24

[breakscrew]

I have been following MAS4 from KLIA to LHR for the last couple of weeks on FlightRadar24, and I have noticed that it 'disappears' every now and again. Does anyone know why that may happen? It never seems to be the case of SIA308 which follows a slightly northerly route and is half an hour ahead.

[DaveReidUK]

Contrary to popular belief, FlightRadar24 is not able to track every flight continuously.

Gaps in its coverage are not uncommon.

[konsult]

Why not just read How it works - Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker! (http://www.flightradar24.com/how-it-works) and FAQ - Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker! (http://www.flightradar24.com/faq)

[breakscrew]

Thanks Konsult, at least you were a bit more helpful and not as rude as DaveReidUK. Why I was interested is that none of the other aircraft around MAS4 seem to 'disappear', particularly the SIA whose route is almost identical. Anyway, thats me told. :hmm:

[Groundloop]

How can DavidReidUK's reply possibly be termed "rude"?!!:ugh:

[srobarts]

What they don't say in the info is how each contributor's info to FlightRadar24 can be different. The receivers come with a small antenna designed for indoors use that you position near a window. This will give limited coverage sometimes - for example my box is on the south side of the house and my coverage to the north is much lower than the coverage to the south. Some of the contributors will have roof mounted antenna which will give up to 300 miles coverage.
Don't forget that not all the contributors operate their receivers 24hrs a day, they may only be contributing when they have their PC switched on.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Dave's reply was accurate, to the point and certainly not rude. One must assume that English is not the native language of the originator.

[Capetonian]

I often tracks flights between Europe and ZA. There seem to drop off the radar somewhere over North Africa and then not reappear until they get to the Orange Rover or Limpopo.

[Flightmech]

You consider DaveReidUKs reply to be rude???:ugh: God knows how you will feel when someone really has a pop at you on here then:eek:

[Hotel Tango]

Strangely enough when I first saw Dave's reply I was going to reply jokingly that he was getting soft in his old age. I am astounded that you, breakscrew, considered it a "rude" reply. I guess you were lucky you didn't get one of mine then :}

[Cunliffe]

I was tracking BA676 from LHR to IST on Saturday morning because my wife and daughter were on board. Strangely the 767 was shown taxying outside the boundaries of LHR before take off and then taking off not on the runway but parallel to it. At IST it appeared to land parallel to the runway instead of on it. All other aircraft were shown in normal positions. Can anybody explain this anomally?

[KelvinD]

A lot of the "older" aircraft types don't have the accuracy when reporting.
I have seen older B777/B767s showing at 5,000 feet with 0kts air speed.
Your wife's flight was a B767 so was probably one of these.
While photographing aircraft at Heathrow, I have more than once been surprised by Delta's B767 suddenly appearing, not having shown up on FR.

[DaveReidUK]

BA's older 767s broadcast ADS-B data that's derived from inertial (gyro) based navigation systems, as opposed to most newer aircraft that get their data from GPS.

Inertial systems suffer from position drift, and the BA 767s seem worse than most.

It's not a problem for ATC, because the aircraft also transmit a parameter (that you can't see on FR24) indicating that the positional data is subject to a large potential error - it just means that they can't fly in the few areas of the world (Hudson Bay, for example) where accurate ADS-B is mandatory.

[pax britanica]

Very interesting replies on here as I often wondered why some aircraft appeared in odd places, I was tacking my daughters flight to Berlin last night and FR 24 followed down the LHR Taxiways to the holding point and then the take off. At the same time another BA flight was seemingly landing on the yet to be built third runway at LHR. I had always assumed these were sort of random FR24 errors and it was interesting to read the causes of some of these anomalies . One of the things that has always amused me about it is the occasional aircraft going backwards in flight which is obviously not the case but I assume is just one of several parameters acting up . Its not perfect but its pretty amazing what you can now track from your living room
PB

[breakscrew]

Dear Groundloop, Heathrow Director and Flightmech,
I think you will find that abrupt and condescending posts, however accurate in their bluntness, can be considered rude, particularly as I asked a perfectly valid question, which was patently not answered. However, the other posters on the thread have come up with a really interesting discussion which I was interested to read. Oh, and as far as making assumptions yourselves, how do you know that English is not my native language?
I just wanted a simple explanation to something I had seen, and not a row about people being rude or not.
Best wishes,
Breakscrew

[Cunliffe]

Breakscrew, I think it possible that you started the row, if in fact there was one.

With reference to my earlier post concerning the position of aircraft as shown on Flightradar24, I am grateful for the helpful replies on this forum. In future I won't be worried if my wife's flight appears to have landed in the middle of a housing estate. Thanks again.
Cunliffe

[superq7]

I don't know if anyone is interested but Planefinder HD similar to FR24 have released an update allowing you to have an aeronautical chart showing instead of Google Earth or a map, you have to pay for it though see below, cheers Stuart.


http://i61.tinypic.com/6t1hya.jpg

[PPRuNe Pop]

breakscrew


I think you will find that abrupt and condescending posts, however accurate in their bluntness, can be considered rude, particularly as I asked a perfectly valid question.You were answered in a perfectly simple and polite manner, while your assumptions as to what DaveReidUK was saying makes you ungrateful and pompous.


how do you know that English is not my native language
Who cares? What you 'want' and what your get in the way of answers is going to be zilch if you adopt the attitude you have. You will have noticed that almost all the posters on this thread have questioned your reasons for saying that someone trying to answer you is rude.


I think you owe the gentleman concerned an apology, wouldn't you say?