[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

I am not very busy, so decided to track a colleague on a flight from Zurich to Frankfurt. Thought I would try 3 different trackers.

Whilst all trackers give accurate stats for take off, arrival, time en route… all 3 gave completely different routes.

Flight is/was LX1076 – ZUR – FRA 10th March 2016

any ideas???

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWR1076

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightTracker/flightTracker.do;jsessionid=D376FE671616066A9241084EEEBC71E6.web1:8009

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/hb-ijv/#90e1845

[Flightlevel]

For short flights best to use ‘Planefinder free’ on smartfones, you can watch the’plane like ATC,without the reponsibility. Even expand the screen to watch it taxi to the terminal.

[Coldbat]

FlightRadar 24 is by far the most accurate with the most active coverage. I use the premium version daily and never have had any problems!

[Poshgirl58]

I agree that FR24 is the best. I don’t use premium and find that sometimes there’s a 15-20 minute “delay” but that could be my laptop. Coverage is very good, they are increasing it all the time although flights can “disappear” when crossing Atlantic. Less scary when you understand why. My 10 year old niece and 5 year old nephew love it!

FlightAware is okay, it usually includes flight plan. I find Flightstats inaccurate so don’t tend to use.

[MrMichael]

I too use FR24. I have always found it highly accurate when sitting in my garden in SW London on a sunny day and guessing where the cruise altitude flights are going to/coming from. I live equidistant of Heathrow and the Ockham Stack and often watch the flights in and out and check type and route on FR. Whiles away an hour before Pimms o’clock.

[Coldbat]

MrMichael-

I echo your hobby! Often while at my local pub in Chiswick under the approach, I wager a few pints on where the above bird came from!

[MartynSinclair]

Thanks for your replies, but going back to the original question, why or how do 2 flight trackers, tracking the same flight and producing the same flight stats for arrival/departure times – heading, altitude.. etc, produce 2 totally different flight routes on the mapping…??

[AndrewinHK]

I imagine some are plotting the course based on the beacons the flight intersects and extrapolating the approximate route, and others are actually plotting the GPS position at all times of the aircraft. Flight Radar 24 is the best and most accurate.

[canucklad]

There is a reasonable theory that actually none of them are 100% accurate, by design.
Apparently the military and intelligence communities requested/demanded inaccuracies into readily available tracking devices.

[conshaldow]

MartynSinclair – 11/03/2016 08:58 GMT

FR24 looks as though it receives information from an almost real-time constant tracker, hence the high quality readings it gives out and why so many people use it.

The FlightAware tracker looks like it may be using a tracker that only gives exact location details at takeoff, midway through the flight and upon landing. This may explain the odd straight lined V-shape route that the aircraft would not have taken. This appear to give out a “median routing” rather than the almost exact routing that FR24 gives out.

This could be down to the technology that each website utilises. This is just my opinion so if anyone knows exactly why would be great to know.

[MartynSinclair]

@canucklad – agree with your comments, but the inaccuracies demanded, were as I understand, not serious distances apart….

Again “my understanding” is the data the trackers use, come direct from the aircraft. Private Jets do have the ability to request this data is not transmitted. If you have the reg number of any IFR aircraft, in theory, you can track its position..

[summerfly]

Just been sitting in my garden watching planes and as I’m always curious to find out where they are all heading I watched FR24 (premium). I was following flight BA208 MIA – LHR (a380) as I noticed a strange manoeuvre over Pembrokeshire. The flight has now landed at Shannon. Now I really do hope that FR is not totally accurate as the a380 as it appears on FR24 went further than the runway! So far not able to find out why flight was diverted.

[conshaldow]

MsKonstanz – 11/03/2016 10:35 GMT

Very strange as it appears the aircraft made it as far as to break land over Wales before turning around. I do know there has been cancellations in London this morning due to heavy fog. Perhaps Shannon is the only runway nearby that had the capacity to take the a380 and also have a runway capable of landing on.

Would very much like to know as I’m due to fly this very flight in September.

[canucklad]

Sounds like a reasonable explanation, although I would have thought PIK might have been a better option or even Manchester

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