A340-600 Zig-zag at +35,000 feet (?)

iWantWings

iWantWings

Pre-takeoff checklist
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My wife and kids are on a DLH flight (DLH453) on an A340-600 from LAX to MUC (München).

I was following their flight via flightradar24 and saw that
- [ok] over the Los Angeles basin the a/c stayed at 11,000
- [ok] from the moment the a/c cleared the mountains NNE of LAX, and all the way to Vegas and into the Southern part of Wyoming, the flight path was pretty much linear while climbing to +35,000.
- [?] at some point over Wyoming at about 35,000 (or possibly higher, but not sure) the path changed to an unexpected zig-zag.

8887622994_67476949c8_c.jpg


Here's a screen capture at a different scale

8887623900_3da195e233_b.jpg


So I selected the path of other planes that were flying at about the same 35,000 feet altitude and had a path relatively close to the DLH453 and noticed a change from a more linear path to one with some deviations, but not nearly as zig-zaggy as that of the DLH453.

The only reason for this flight path that I could think of is some high altitude weather, or, the reported flight path isn't accurate. (I haven't checked the current weather/winds over Wyoming yet at 30K+ feet).

I'm curious if anyone has any idea why the path looks the way it does?

Here's more info as reported by flightradar24
- altitude ~35000 to 26,900
- speed ~ 450Kts to 551Kts

(Unfortunately I wasn't watching the exact altitude and speed of the A346 when it was zigzagging, just noticed it some time thereafter)

Thanks!
 
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Has to be some type of false data..... if a plane that big did that kind of manauvering, all the passengers would be screaming...:hairraise::hairraise::confused:
 
Why not ask your wife if she felt or saw something similar to that while being on the plane if that happened shed probably know it?
 
One more thought.......

Maybe the Captain or FO of the flight just went through a divorce and when center told them (direct Crazy Woman, CZI , VOR ) they had a flashback of their former wife and freaked out and steered the plane AWAY from that 40 miles of bad road...:dunno::lol::rofl::eek:
 
N801BH said:
Has to be some type of false data..... if a plane that big did that kind of manauvering, all the passengers would be screaming...:hairraise::hairraise::confused:
Click to expand...

When boarding, the crew handed passengers "backpacks" with the instructions to "wear them at all times".

I also saw that "Lufthansa" was painted on the aircraft inverted.

Must have been a "special" aerobatic transport flight :yikes:
 
I've seen FlightAware drop a point that is hundreds of miles off the airplane course.
 
marcoseddi said:
Why not ask your wife if she felt or saw something similar to that while being on the plane if that happened shed probably know it?
Click to expand...

the plane is shown over the UK right now - as soon as they land, I'll ask her if my 2 year old made his way to the cockpit :D
 
N801BH said:
One more thought.......

Maybe the Captain or FO of the flight just went through a divorce and when center told them (direct Crazy Woman, CZI , VOR ) they had a flashback of their former wife and freaked out and steered the plane AWAY from that 40 miles of bad road...:dunno::lol::rofl::eek:
Click to expand...


LOL! I thought you were making that up but sure enogh there's a Crazy Woman VOR in Wyoming!!!
 
flyingron said:
I've seen FlightAware drop a point that is hundreds of miles off the airplane course.
Click to expand...


This morning when I woke up, I checked the status of the flight on Flightradar24 (the browser-based version) and sure enough, the flight was nowhere to be found. Gulp! I tried getting a status on it for about 15 minutes with no data on the flight showing up.

Then I looked at Flightaware and I could finally eat my sandwich after it positioned the a/c somewhere west of Ireland.

(now both Flightradar24 and Flightaware position the a/c over the UK)

I hope ATC gets more reliable data than these applications show ; )
 
screen capture of traffic over Europe

Traffic at 12 o'clock

8890696321_3e1472501a_c.jpg


(capture from flightradar24)

edit: it'd be cool if a 3-d view was possible to see the traffic density spanning various altitudes
 
I have seen some impossible and clearly erroneous tracks on flight aware. One in particular was a Europe to Memphis flight that pulled some "UFO" type extremely high speed position changes.
 
My last flight, according to Flightaware:

screenshot20130530at222.png
 
its prob different radars picking up the transponder and painting in a slightly different place -
 
N801BH said:
One more thought.......

Maybe the Captain or FO of the flight just went through a divorce and when center told them (direct Crazy Woman, CZI , VOR ) they had a flashback of their former wife and freaked out and steered the plane AWAY from that 40 miles of bad road...:dunno::lol::rofl::eek:
Click to expand...

Just spoke to my wife. She said around that area (as shown on the Airshow display) captain made a PA announcement telling everyone to buckle up and be seated. Wife said "everything shook pretty viloently".

Oh, the "former wife" and "crazy woman" waypoint story might not work: my wife said that the Lufthansa captain was "a woman" ;)
 
iWantWings said:
......Oh, the "former wife" and "crazy woman" waypoint story might not work: my wife said that the Lufthansa captain was "a woman" ;)
Click to expand...

A woman was the captain... and the flight landed safely ?:dunno::dunno:.. I ain't buyin it..:no:;):D..

I am sure Mari will be along shortly to razz me for that one..:redface:
 
N801BH said:
A woman was the captain... and the flight landed safely ?:dunno::dunno:.. I ain't buyin it..:no:;):D..

I am sure Mari will be along shortly to razz me for that one..:redface:
Click to expand...

Well - you'll notice she obviously can't drive straight... :no:

**ducking and running**
 
I typed "Popeyes" into my phone nav app and it told me it was 2600 miles away.
 
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