Flightradar24 Interesting Finds

dmccarty · Jul 27, 2023

AWACKs, tanker and Mirages up and about this afternoon. I would think there are USMC, USN, or USAF fighters our there but not showing up on the website.

dmccarty · Aug 1, 2023

Last week I saw this Osprey Down East. It was circling and you can the icon changed to show it was in helicopter mode. When flying faster the icon changes so that the props are different. Just east of Havelock is the USMC air station at Cherry Point and the USMC Camp Lejeune is near Jacksonville and just off the screen shot.

dmccarty · Aug 3, 2023

Here is an Osprey in flight mode.

What is interesting is that if you look really close, there appears to be another plane under the Osprey. I have noticed this a few times and I don't know if they are refueling or something else is happening. I saw the a C17 the other night that had a barely seen plane under it. That C17 and a C130 were repeatedly flying over a drop zone at Fort Bragg so I assume they were doing parachute drops. Not sure why another plane was hidden under the C17.

I also have seen couple of USAF tankers flying almost on top of each other. Looking at the flight data, they were flying very close and at the same speed. I saw a 135 tanker the other night, they are easy to pick out of the clutter of aircraft because of their four engines, and it flew off the coast being followed by a C17, which is easy to spot for the same reason. I am pretty sure the C17 was refueling or practicing, because of they were flying on top of each other and matching speed. However, eventually one plane disappeared off the website and then the other one disappeared as they got further offshore. Other planes were showing up so they turned off their tracking devices.

ning · Aug 3, 2023

dmccarty said:
Here is an Osprey in flight mode.

What is interesting is that if you look really close, there appears to be another plane under the Osprey. I have noticed this a few times and I don't know if they are refueling or something else is happening. I saw the a C17 the other night that had a barely seen plane under it. That C17 and a C130 were repeatedly flying over a drop zone at Fort Bragg so I assume they were doing parachute drops. Not sure why another plane was hidden under the C17.

I also have seen couple of USAF tankers flying almost on top of each other. Looking at the flight data, they were flying very close and at the same speed. I saw a 135 tanker the other night, they are easy to pick out of the clutter of aircraft because of their four engines, and it flew off the coast being followed by a C17, which is easy to spot for the same reason. I am pretty sure the C17 was refueling or practicing, because of they were flying on top of each other and matching speed. However, eventually one plane disappeared off the website and then the other one disappeared as they got further offshore. Other planes were showing up so they turned off their tracking devices.
View attachment 814191

I think because of the delay in sending/reporting position that the maps don't show you exactly where the plane is at the moment (obviously), but this delay isn't consistent so sometimes two planes flying a fixed distance apart at a fixed velocity will appear to get farther apart or closer together, but they're really not. When I've watched pairs of tankers I can see that their airspeed & altitude aren't changing, but the icons on the map are playing games with either other which would require significant speed changes.

Not sure if that explains hte Osprey + friend though.

dmccarty · Aug 4, 2023

ning said:
I think because of the delay in sending/reporting position that the maps don't show you exactly where the plane is at the moment (obviously), but this delay isn't consistent so sometimes two planes flying a fixed distance apart at a fixed velocity will appear to get farther apart or closer together, but they're really not. When I've watched pairs of tankers I can see that their airspeed & altitude aren't changing, but the icons on the map are playing games with either other which would require significant speed changes.

Not sure if that explains hte Osprey + friend though.

I don't think the plane "overlapping" issues I am seeing is from a sending delay. I have only seen it a few times and there were NO other aircraft around. I wonder if the planes are doing something that triggers a change in the icons? Either some flight characteristic or a change to the tracking hardware. I have seen many of the military aircraft just disappear. There they are and then there they aint'.

Last night I noticed what I call the zombie planes. There were 3-4 of them near Camp Lejeune and they had took off from Cherry Point. The tracking software has no information on these planes and I think they are F35s. I have seen Harriers from Cheery Point and the software shows them. These zombie planes have nothing. Last night they were flying with a CH53 copter over the camp and then they disappeared. I assumed they turned off the hardware but they could have landed on the camp which would fit their doctrine.

I have seen aircraft tracks zig zagging which they are obviously not doing and this has to be caused by the issues with the tracking system.

Can't be sure but I noticed a 747 land at Cherry Point this week and fly to Rota Spain. Kinda odd. Not sure where it flew after stopping in Rota. However, I read a day or so ago, that detachments from Camp Lejeune, which is close to Cherry Point, have been sent to the Persian Gulf where they will board commercial ships to prevent Iranian piracy. I wonder if the 747 was taking the Marines to Gulf....

MAX-24-Dean · Aug 4, 2023

Flight pattern was actually attributed to wind shear according to a Lufthansa spokesman..

Frustrated Lufthansa pilot flies plane in 15-mile long penis pattern after being diverted to different airport

A Lufthansa flight from Germany to Sicily was spotted on radar flying in a pattern that resembled male genitalia after the pilot was told to land at a different airport.

news.yahoo.com

dmccarty · Aug 7, 2023

Saw this a couple of weeks ago. It appears to be over the USCG base at Elizabeth City, NC. I assume it was a tethered, surveillance blimp that was up for a few hours and it did not move. Odd that the website showed it as a copter. It just sat there for a few hours. This is a lead in to something I saw over the weekend.

dmccarty · Aug 7, 2023

Here is the zeppelin I noticed this weekend. I think the Goodyear blimp was covering a golf game since the blimp was doing circles over a golf course.

dmccarty · Aug 8, 2023

Too funny. I just happened to glance at the ADS website, it is the middle of the week, so lots of military aircraft are up, but I saw this out west. In Western NC, that is... Blimp be going somewhere.

Slowly at 42 knots.