DATA - ERROR: FRA - DTW LH442 with A320/A321

[epericolososporgersi]

As shown on a common site. In the last weeks.
In reality the aircrafts had been on their way to Luqa (MLA).
Is there anyone, who can explain this to me?


(the name of the web site is starting with flightradar...)

[S.o.S.]

Welcome to PPRuNe epericolososporgersi.

The data on that, and other sites, is collected directly from the aircraft ADS-B signal but is then processed by the company. It is not unusual to see errors on these sites as they are NOT radar sites. I have seen aircraft flying 'backwards' and jumping back and forth between two locations thousands of meters apart!

I suggest you contact the website directly. Please do stay and contribute to the Cabin.

[DaveReidUK]

Whatever it was, there's no trace of it on the FR24 website, at least not in the last few months.

A more accurate description of the problem would have been finger trouble on the part of the crew when entering the ACID (Aircraft ID, in practice the flight number) into the FMS.

That gets used within the Mode S and ADS-B transmissions, and the enthusiast tracking sites use it to deduce what route the aircraft is flying. They typically don't do any sanity-checking, so if a flight is over the Med but sending a flight number of a transatlantic flight, it's the latter route that the site will show. It may well be corrected retrospectively if someone happens to spot the error.

Having said that, LH FRA-MLA flight numbers don't remotely resemble LH442.

[ifonly]

Shows quite clearly on the 29th Jan.

D-AIRP shown as flying LH1276 Frankfurt to Malta at 09:10. The same aircraft is shown as flying Frankfurt to Detroit at 09:55 as LH442.

A lot of the recent LH442 flights are shown as operated by A320/21 - so presumably some coding errors.

[DaveReidUK]

Ah, I see what the OP meant now.

In that case, the most likely explanation is neither finger trouble nor coding errors on the part of the crews.

LH use alphanumeric callsigns on many European flights, including FRA-MLA, and those callsigns change periodically so that the same timetable flight number can have a different callsign in each successive season, and vice versa.

It would seem that FR24 is misinterpreting one of the FRA-MLA alphanumerics as corresponding to LH442 FRA-DTW.

[Heathrow Harry]

related issue

https://www.flyingmag.com/faa-cracks-down-on-erroneous-ads-b-codes?enews013018&spMailingID=32845711&spUserID=NDc4NjIwNTEyNwS2&spJobID=1203774143&spReportId=MTIwMzc3NDE0MwS2

If you are one of many pilots who have stayed ahead of the mandate to install ADS-B-Out equipment in your airplane before January 1, 2020, you might want to make sure that the transponder codes in the system are correct.

The FAA is cracking down on what is called non-performing equipment (NPE) — ADS-B equipment that transmit invalid or unassigned 24-bit ICAO addresses, incorrect flight identification codes, erroneous position reports, and other false data.

To prevent hazardous situations, the FAA has implemented a filtering system that prevents processing of aircraft with NPE within the air traffic control systems and TIS-B service. While ATC will still receive replies from NPE transponders, the signals will be received as secondary radar signals. The aircraft will also be displayed to pilots with ADS-B-In equipment.

The main concern regarding the NPE aircraft is that some codes are transmitted as very general ICAO address codes, such as 000000 or FFFFFF. FAA monitoring equipment has found that, over the last three years, there has been at least one flight per day with an incorrect ICAO address code. Problems could arise if two aircraft with the same code are flying in the same airspace. One of the aircraft could be cancelled out from the radar screen or ADS-B-In display all together, producing a safety hazard.

The FAA has provided a service that allows operators to verify the proper functionality of ADS-B equipment by sending a Public ADS-B Performance Report (PAPR) request. This request can be filed using a specific date from a flight along with ADS-B equipment information here (https://adsbperformance.faa.gov/PAPRRequest.aspx). You can also verify that the Mode S code for your aircraft is correct by searching the FAA database here (http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Inquiry.aspx).