Fedex sweep flights
 

Apparantly Fedex will fly airplanes empty over different parts of the US ready tp swoop down where needed for extra freight lift on short notice. Check out the history of FDX 1311, an A300.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/F...115Z/KDEN/KMEM

Anyone know how many aircraft do this on a typical night for Fedex?

Sounds like an expensive proposition... could the strange track have anything to do with wx? Midwest been nasty recently.

Wow, that is interesting. I wonder why we haven't seen it in planning. Fed Ex is trying to save gas, not burn it up.

Sweep Flights
 

From where did you draw this conclusion?

im sure it is part of their usps contract, if an airplane breaks down and cannot deliver the priority mail on time they need a backup to take the place of said broken down airplane. it may cost money to have a plane flying around doing circles over the us but it makes sense in the end.

There is..........
 

so much money at stake in the express delivery market.

I believe what you are referring to is Flex Flight which is flight planning to cover a larger geographical area rether than direct point to point. That is a far cry from just flying around looking for freight. Flex flight gives the company more flexibility to deliver if for some reason there is a delay at another airport. They can drop in pick up and continue to their original destination.

UPS used to have an airborne alert aircraft that would takeoff in the evening and make giant circles over the Ohio valley a la "Looking Glass". They don't do that anymore. FedEx routes some planes in a round about way. The SEA MEM plane may come straight down the west coast to SFO before turning east. They're paid by the hour.

interesting... paid by the hour? must be nice!