An Airbus A320 had to make an emergency return to Milan Malpensa airport yesterday evening (12 Aug) after an engine cowl came off shortly after take off.
The loose cowl is reported to have damaged the body and tail of the four year old aircraft, registration number G-EZTC.

EZY2715 shortly after the incident – screenshot planefinder.net

easyJet flight EZY2715 (callsign EZY511D) had departed Milan Malpensa (MXP) at 18:16 local time bound for Lisbon, Portugal.

Passengers were able to leave the aircraft normally on landing before being transferred to another Airbus A320. EZY2715 eventually landed at Lisboa Airport, Lisbon (LIS) at 01:50 local time almost 6 hours after the scheduled arrival time of 19:55.

G-EZTC was on its fifth sector flight of the day when the incident occurred http://planefinder.net/data/airplanes/G-EZTC

An investigation is underway into the incident which bares similarities to the recent emergency landing of a British Airways aircraft. Back in May an Airbus A319 departing London, Heathrow caught fire after cowls on both engines became detached shortly after takeoff.

http://planefinder.net/about/news/plane-makes-emergency-landing-at-heathrow/

Investigations showed that the cowls on both engines were left unlatched following routine maintenance.

The aircraft involved in the incident at Milan is shown below:

easyJet Airbus A320 G-EZTC – photo © Stephen Morris – pinkfroot.com

Data Sources

Aircraft: http://planefinder.net/data/airplanes/G-EZTC

Flight: http://planefinder.net/data/flights/U22715

A UPS Airbus A300 aircraft has crashed on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) in Alabama killing both pilots.

The aircraft, tail number N155UP operating flight number UPS1354, had departed earlier from Louisville International Airport (SDF) but crashed short of runway 18 at around 04:50 local time in an open field owned by the airport.

UPS A300, N155UP – Photo © Francisco Amaya pinkfroot.com

Eye witnesses reported that the aircraft engines sounded odd and that the twin engine plane was on fire before it hit the ground.

N155UP was a 9 year old Airbus A300F4-622R that first flew in late 2003 before delivery to UPS in 2004.

Here on planefinder.net we tracked the aircraft into Louisville earlier in the morning and tracked part of the final flight to Birmingham.

UPS1354 shortly before the crash – screenshot planefinder.net

In a press statement UPS Airlines President Mitch Nichols said “This incident is very unfortunate, and our thoughts and prayers are with those involved”

The full UPS statement can be found here at their newsroom:

http://www.pressroom.ups.com/Press+Releases/Current+Press+Releases/Statement+on+UPS+Flight+1354

Japanese airline ANA has reported that a wiring fault has been detected on three of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The fault is in the aircraft’s engine fire suppression system and according to ANA spokeswoman Megumi Tezuka had the potential to cause the the wrong engine to be extinguished in the event of a problem.

It is thought that the wiring fault occurred during the manufacturing process.

ANA 787 prior to delivery to ANA in 2011 – Image © Tad Carlson – pinkfroot.com

Taking no chances Japan Airlines (JAL) recalled an aircraft flying to Helsinki in order for it to be checked.

All 10 JAL 787s are being checked along with the remaining 17 ANA aircraft.

The fire extinguisher problem is the latest in a series of high profile issues that have beset the Dreamliner since launch.

You can see our updated 787 Dreamliner event timeline here:

http://planefinder.net/about/news/would-you-fly-or-take-your-family-to-fly-on-a-dreamliner/

Our unique airline reference app, Airline Finder, passed through the 1,000 airlines mark today!

The latest additions include Tway, HOP!, China West and many more.

We’ve also replaced many of the older liveries with brand new retina quality artwork – recent highlights include a beautiful new illustration of a United Airlines Boeing 787 and a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300.

United Airlines 787 – illustration © Graham Charles Edwards – Airline Finder

The app updates happen in the background now too. Since the release of Airline Finder version 3.0.0 we’ve updated over 100 liveries and added 35 new airlines.

Airline fleet data is continually updated too – we won’t even try to count the updates there!

We even add old classic airlines like the one below from time to time!

British Eagle Bristol Britannia – © Graham Charles Edwards – Airline Finder

You can learn more about Airline Finder for iOS here: http://my.pinkfroot.com/page/airline-finder-iphone or see the very latest update details on our forum: http://forum.planefinder.net/threads/airline-finder-version-3.18/

The Norwegian low cost carrier has been forced to ground one of its two operational Dreamliners following a fault with the aircraft’s power distribution system.

Aircraft EI-LNA operating Flight DY7201 had been due to fly from Oslo to Bangkok on Saturday 7 August but after waiting 24 hours the passengers eventually made the journey on a chartered aircraft.

EI-LNA Norwegian787-8 Dreamliner – photo © Brian McFadden – pinkfroot.com

The latest fault is reported to be unrelated to the Lithium battery problems that grounded the entire 787 fleet earlier this year.

The electrical issue is likely to cause further scheduling problems to Norwegian Air Shuttle as their only other 787 (EI-LNB) was delayed into into service because of  a brake fault.  This aircraft is the second of eight that have been ordered by the airline and spent most of last week on the ground whilst the brake fault was resolved.

Boeing have so far delivered 83 Dreamliners to a total of 10 airlines.

You can see our updated 787 Dreamliner event timeline here:

http://planefinder.net/about/news/would-you-fly-or-take-your-family-to-fly-on-a-dreamliner/

Aircraft details:
http://planefinder.net/data/airplanes/EI-LNA

The tail fin of EI-LNA commemorates Sonja Henie, a Norwegian Olympian.

Boeing’s first 787-900 Dreamliner has taken to the skies over Seattle for the first time today.

You can watch the flight live here on planefinder.net http://planefinder.net/flight/BOE001

787-900 first flight – screenshot Plane Finder app

The aircraft has tail number N789EX and is using callsign BOE001.

You can also see our 787 Dreamliner event timeline here:

http://planefinder.net/about/news/would-you-fly-or-take-your-family-to-fly-on-a-dreamliner/

Airbus is predicting that the number of commercial aircraft required around the world will double in the next 20 years.

The revised forecasts were made at a London press briefing late on Tuesday and follows a similar upwardly revised forecast from Boeing.

The additional demand will be driven by increased passenger journeys in emerging markets, particularly China.

Shanghai Capital International Airport routes – screenshot planefinder.net/route

The company said there are many factors behind the global increase, such as economic growth, a bigger global middle class, migration and tourism.

The manufacturer predicted that by 2032 the number of mega cities — those whose airports serve more than 10,000 long-haul passengers daily — will more than double to 89 from 42 now and that 99 percent of the world’s long-haul traffic will be between or through these.

Fabrice Bregier, President and CEO of Airbus followed this up at today’s opening of the Aviation Expo China in Beijing with the announcement of a new version of its popular wide body A330-300 aircraft.

He stated that “We are announcing the new A330-300 lower weight variant today in China because here we see strong pent-up demand for efficient and reliable wide-body aircraft connecting mega cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou.”

China Airlines A330-300 (B-18302) – photo © Tsaiwenwei – pinkfroot.com

Compared to current A330-300 variants that are adapted to longer-range missions the new A330-300 regional and domestic variant will be optimised to seat up to around 400 passengers and will offer significant cost savings through a reduced operational weight of around 200 tonnes.

In addition to improved fuel economy and the latest cockpit technologies passgngers will benefit from modern slimline light-weight seats, high broadband wi-fi connectivity, the latest HDTV In-Flight Entertainment systems, LED lighting and full colour mood lighting!

You can find the full press release for the A330-300 here:

http://www.airbus.com/presscentre/pressreleases/press-release-detail/detail/airbus-announces-lower-weight-a330-for-regional-domestic-operations/

Interactive route map: http://planefinder.net/route/

Interactive route map – Shanghai Capital International Airport (PEK): http://planefinder.net/route/PEK/

Two Boeing 747 jumbo jets were involved in an alarming near miss over Scotland earlier this year.

The two aircraft, each with two pilots, were carrying up to a 1,000 passengers in total and were flying at the same flight level and on converging routes.

According to a report released by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) the June 23 incident occurred when, instead of taking avoiding action as instructed, both crews did the exact opposite turning their aircraft to within 100ft of each other vertically and 3 nautical miles horizontally – well under the minimum safe separation of 5 nautical miles.

Both were about to begin their transatlantic crossings.

British Airways flight BA87 (callsign BAW87) was headed for Vancouver Internation (YVR) from London Heathrow (LHR).

Lufthansa flight LH418 (callsign DLH418) was bound for Washington Dulles (IAD) from Frankfurt Main (FRA).

Here on Plane Finder we tracked the two aircraft as shown in the screenshot below:

Plane Finder Screenshot 23rd June 2013 12:55 UTC

Planefinder.net playback links:

http://planefinder.net/flight/BAW87/time/2013-06-23T12:55:00%20UTC or

http://planefinder.net/flight/DLH418/time/2013-06-23T12:55:00%20UTC

Please note that the playback data on our website is shown in 5 minute intervals

The two aircraft involved, British Airway registration G-BNLM and Lufthansa B-ABYC, are also shown below:

BA747 G-BNLM – image © Colin Charman – pinkfroot.com

D-ABYC – image © David Pygott – pinkfroot.com

The UKAB report states that “It was apparent that both crews had taken each others’ instructions, and the Board found it hard to determine why this had occurred; unfortunately no Human Factor report was available from either crew. The Board was surprised that all four pilots had misheard or misinterpreted the avoiding action instructions despite at least one of the crews reading them back correctly.”

Radar data from Airprox report 2013054

In the UKAB image above aircraft B747 (1) is British Airways BA87 and B747 (2) is the Lufthansa flight LH418

The report concludes that the cause of the near miss was that “The pilots of ac [aircraft] on converging tracks flew into conflict because, although they acknowledged timely avoiding action, they did not follow it.

The full report into the incident can be found here: http://www.airproxboard.org.uk/docs/423/20130911-2013.09Reports.pdf

A British Airways 747-400 aircraft crashed into a building whilst taxiing at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport last night.

Images taken by passengers on the 747, tail number G-BNLL, show that the wing had sliced through the second floor of a two story airport building.

© Twitter user @HarrietTolputt

Four airport workers are reported to have been hurt in the incident.

Reports from the aircraft indicate that the passengers and crew were all unharmed, if a little shaken up.

A British Airways statement said that “The 182 customers disembarked safely and there were no reported injuries onboard the aircraft,” BA says. “Customers were looked after by our staff and provided with hotel accommodation and we are arranging alternative flights for them.”

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) are carrying out an investigation as it appears that the aircraft was on the wrong taxi way.

The SACAA’s Phindiwe Gwebu says, “The Boeing 747 got instructions to takeoff from runway 03L and the crew were instructed to use Taxi Way B, instead they used Taxi Way M, which is too small for that type of aircraft.”

Flight BA34 had been due to travel from Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport to London Heathrow Airport. It us expected that most passengers will now leave on flights this evening.The aircraft involved in the incident is shown below:

G-BNLL – Image © Andrew Smith – pinkfroot.com

You can see the flight history of G-BNLL here on planefinder:  http://planefinder.net/data/airplanes/G-BNLL

Hopefully the damage is not too severe and we’ll be tracking the aircraft out of Johannesburg in 2014.

Plane Finder is tracking Santa!

Santa’s sleigh is equipped with the very latest NextGen ADS-B tracker technology.

This means that children, young and old, can once again track Santa live as he delivers presents across the globe.

We are already tracking Santa here on planefinder.net and the Plane Finder Apple and Android apps as he gets ready for the big day!

Screenshot from Plane Finder for Android – looks like he’s running a test flight! test

The ADS-B tracker is a great move my Santa as it means that Air Traffic Control operators across the world will help him navigate through the busy skies!

ADS-B should help cut down on the amount of food that his reindeer need too as his flight path will be fully optimized.

Santa is using flight number S4NTA2013 and his sleigh tail number is SA-NTA.

You’d better be good too just in case he doesn’t stop for you!

Follow Santa here on our live radar tracker : http://planefinder.net/flight/S4NTA2013

Will you spot Santa in the apps or website?

An Ethiopian Airlines aircraft flying from Addis Ababa to Rome was hijacked by the co-pilot and and taken to Geneva according to Swiss police.
The hijacker, who was arrested in Geneva whilst claiming asylum, waited for the pilot to go to the toilet and then locked himself in the cockpit as the aircraft flew over Sudan.

ET-AMF the Boeing 767-300 hijacked today. Image © Stephen Morris pinkfroot.com

Flight ET702 (callsign ETH702) departed Bole International Airport (ADD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 00:30 local time, and was scheduled to arrive at Rome’s Flumicino Airport (FCO) at 04:40 local time. Instead the Boeing 767-300 aircraft, registration number ET-AMF, landed at Geneva International Airport (GVA) at 06:00 local time.

Passengers came out of the aircraft at about 08:00 local time surrounded by dozens of police according to the Tribune de Geneve.

In a statement Ethiopian Airlines said that “the flight has landed safely at Geneva airport. All passengers and crew are safe at Geneva airport” it added that the 200 passengers and crew on board the plane were in good health.
Geneva airport was closed following the incident but has now reopened.

Data sources:

http://planefinder.net/data/airplanes/ET-AMF

http://planefinder.net/data/flights/ET702

Jetstar pilot Rich Greenslade today won a tribunal case to have a break between shifts.

A Jetstar A320 with an empty flight deck! Photo © Tim Pruyn – pinkfroot.com

The Airbus A320 pilot, based out of Christchurch New Zealand, argued against Jetstar at an Employment Court stating that the airline was in breach of its obligations in not allowing pilots any time for a break during an aircraft turnaround.

Jetstar argued that there were practical issues in not allowing time for breaks during the turnaround and that any changes would undermine its operational efficiency, reduce the number of flights flown per aircraft and lead to a loss of income.

The court rejected this and said that Jetstar’s defenses “fail comprehensively”.
Airlines across the world are working hard to reduce turnaround times to an absolute minimum in order to maximize their efficiency and profits.

This case however highlighted the pressure that this puts on pilots with Jetstar aiming for a 40 minute turnaround on international flights and 30 minutes for domestic flights.

During those times pilots like Rich Greenslade are required to perform a number of duties including flight planning, aircraft preparation, completion of documentation, supervision and checking of load planning data.

These tasks clearly limit the time for the flight crew to get any form of proper rest or exercise with the exception of short toilet breaks. Except for the toilet breaks, possible only when the facilities are “enabled”,  the crew are required to be in the cockpit at all times. In flight meals also often have to be consumed very quickly due to the limited cruising time on short haul flights.

The two parties must now come to a resolution within 60 days with the threat of a return to court if an agreement is not reached. A future agreement will likely apply to all Jetstar pilots with potential implications for other airlines too.

A Jetstar A320-200 VH-VQO Photo © Natham Bartlett – pinkfroot.com

An Etihad Airbus A330-200 departing Brisbane for Singapore was forced to make an emergency landing after wasps nested in a vital system.

A hazard to aviation! A mud-dauber wasp © Didier Descouens

The incident involving Etihad Flight EY437 on 21 November 2013 was recorded by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) as a serious incident.

The ATSB preliminary report released today shows that mud-dauber wasps had built a nest in the pilots air speed indicator tubes.

This is a known issue that was thought to be the cause of an air disaster in 1996 when a Boeing 757-200 (Birgenair Flight 301) crashed shortly after take-off from the Dominican Republic on route to Frankfurt. The aircraft was carrying 176 passengers and 13 crew. There were no survivors.

The ATSB report into the EY437 incident shows the potentially serious consequences of the wasps nest building activities. The mud-dauber wasps will either build its own cylindrical nests out of mud or will take advantage of man made cylindrical structures – such as the tubes used on aircraft that measure airspeed. The 1996 incident occurred after the aircraft had been standing for 25 days without protective covers on the tubes and again one of the three tubes was found to be blocked.

Location of pilot probes © ATSB

The ATSB report states that “at 1152 EST, the aircraft was pushed-back for the return flight to Singapore. At 1204 EST, the captain discontinued (rejected) the takeoff after observing an airspeed indication failure on his display. The maximum airspeed recorded by the flight data recorder during the rejected takeoff was 88 kt.” The maintenance team at Brisbane then investigated the problem and disable on of the three probes.

The report then goes on to say that “at 1345 EST, during the second takeoff, the crew became aware of an airspeed discrepancy after V1 and the takeoff was continued. Once airborne, the crew declared a MAYDAY and decided to return to Brisbane where an overweight landing was carried out at 1439 EST.”

EY437 preparing for emergency landing at Brisbane – screenshot © planefinder.net

The captain’s probe was removed from the aircraft and sent to the probe manufacturer in the USA. Examination showed that it had been almost completely blocked by an insect nest, composed of sand and mud, that was consistent with the nest of a ‘mud-dauber’ wasp.

You can see EY437 on hold and landing via planefinder.net playback here:

http://planefinder.net/flight/ETD473/time/2013-11-21T03:50:00%20UTC

The full Australian Transport Safety Bureau report is available here:

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2013/aair/ao-2013-212.aspx

Bergenair Flight 301: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birgenair_Flight_301

Mud Dauber Wasp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber

A British Airways Airbus A319 was forced to return to Heathrow Airport last night after flames were seen spitting from an engine shortly after takeoff.

The emergency landing forced the closure of the airport’s southern run for 16 minutes.

The flight had departed London Heathrow Airport (LHR) just before 20:55 local time and had been headed to Saint Exupery Airport (LYS) in Lyon, France,

After being in the air for around 40 minutes the aircraft landed back at Heathrow just after 21:35 local time.

Click on the image below to view playback

Flight BAW364 Airbus A319 returns to LHR – screenshot planefinder.net

British Airways said that flight BA364 (callsign BAW364) touched down safely and the aircraft would be “thoroughly checked over by engineers”.

An airline spokesman said that “The safety of our customers, crew and aircraft is of the utmost importance.”

The aircraft involved is a twin Engine Airbus A319-131, registration number G-DBCG, built in 2006 and is shown below.

Airbus A319 Reg G-DBCG photo © Jason King – pinkfroot.com

planefinder.net Playback link:  http://planefinder.net/flight/BAW364/time/2014-03-06T21:00:00%20UTC

Aircraft: http://planefinder.net/data/airplanes/G-DBCG

Flight BA364: http://planefinder.net/data/flights/BA364

Last night’s incident isn’t the first involving a fire after takeoff of a British Airways A319 departing Heathrow. Less than a year ago we reported a fire on a Oslo bound flight:

http://planefinder.net/about/news/plane-makes-emergency-landing-at-heathrow/

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has gone missing between Malaysia and Vietnam.

Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRO. Photo © Martyn Wheatley – pinkfroot.com

The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft left Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) at 00:40 local time (16:40 GMT 7 March) and was bound for Capital International Airport (PEK) in Beijing, China. The aircraft was expected to land in Beigjing at 06:30 local time (20:30 GMT).

The Boeing 777 involved is registration number 9M-MRO and is 12 years old and was using callsign MAS370.

The aircraft is thought to be carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew.

Unconfirmed reports say the aircraft crashed into the sea south of Vietnam.

Links:

Flight MH370: http://planefinder.net/data/flights/MH370

Boeing 777-200ER: http://planefinder.net/data/airplanes/9M-MRO

Flight track: http://planefinder.net/flight/MAS370/time/2014-03-07T16:50:00%20UTC

(Important Note – we do not yet have ADS-B receivers in the region so lost coverage for that reason early in the flight)

ADS-B Data Tracks received by our Plane Finder network for the flight: http://froot.co/1k2pu9f

MH370 shortly after takeoff – Screenshot planefinder.net

It has been over a week since Malaysian Airlines flight 370 went missing and we have still not located the aircraft.

There has been a lot of talk in the press about “ACARS” and that this was turned off and that the 01:37 transmission was never received. So what actually is this, what does it look like?

ACARS, or to give it it’s full name, Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System has been around since 1978. It was developed by a company called ARINC.

Before ACARS voice was used to send information to and from an aircraft – often by using dedicated radio operators!

ACARS replaced the voice radio transmissions with electronic transmissions to and from the aircraft. It uses VHF radio signals that are received and sent by a global network of land based radio stations and satellites.

Since 1978 avionics and flight management systems have made huge advances. ACARS has tried to keep pace with this and supports ever increasing types of data. Examples are weather, flight plans, technical information on the aircraft, information on aircraft components such as engines, and for communications between the flight crew and ground support teams.

The cockpit of an Air France A380 showing the crew keyboards – photo © Simon Lochery – pinkfroot.com

We thought it would be interesting to show some real life example of ACARS transmissions.

All of these messages are out bound from the aircraft:

ACARS Message 1
G-DBCC BA088J #CFBWRN/WN14021208290022000006AUTO FLT FAC 2 FAULT
The first part identifies the aircraft as registration number G-DBCC, it’s callsign for this flight is BA088J
The next part is the ACARS data – in this case the aircraft is reporting a fault

ACARS Message 2
N673UA UA0985 #M1BPOSN51210W001338,BEDEK,082231,140,NIGIT,082458,D273L,M19,24058,225,/TS082231,120214798E
This ACARS message is a position report from United Airlines Flight UA985

ACARS Message 3
EI-DTE XM0229 3401 ETA    0229/12 EGLL/LIML .EI-DTE/ETA 0915/FOB 0051
Estimated Time of Arrival report

ACARS Message 4
N657UA UA0909 /71 ORDAMS 0\READING LIGHT AT 19CEHWILL NOT TURN OFF
A faulty reading light being is being reported back to base from another United flight

ACARS Message 5
N832MH DL0142 110530 KDTW EDDF6A      OTHER THAN A BAD BACK…THE CONTROLLER HAS NOCOMPLAINTS THIS MORN…
Hmm – looks like a faulty Air Traffic Controller! Reported by a Delta flight this time

ACARS Message 6
N12114 CO0070 1EHAM REQUEST GATE ASSIGNMENT ETA0447
This is a gate assignment request so the crew know what is going on. N12114 is a Boeing 757 operated by United Airlines.

The main problem with ACARS, at least when it comes to tracking flights, is that it was never designed to provide real time flight tracking.

That was the job of radar and more recently ADS-B too. ACARS does help to track aircraft when out or range of these systems but the reports are sporadic and do not often include positional data.

In the future ACARS will be replaced by more modern systems including data over the internet but for the coming years it will still play an important role in the management of aircraft across the globe.

Virgin Australia flight VA41 has  reportedly been hijacked on route to Bali.

The Boeing 737-800, registration number VH-YIF, has recently landed at Bali Ngurah Rai Airport (DPS).

The aircraft had sent off from Brisbane International Airport at 01:00 UTC and was scheduled to fly to Bali.

We tracked the flight here on Plane Finder.Playback of it approaching Bali here: http://planefinder.net/flight/VOZ41/time/2014-04-25T06:36:26%20UTC/speed/120

VA41 VH-YIF Arriving in Bali

Reuters reported that a passenger tried to enter the cockpit and the captain initially reported this as a hijack attempt.

Virgin Australia have reported that the passenger involved was under the influence of alcohol.

There are no reports of any injuries to passengers or crew.

The three year old Boeing 737-800 aircraft involved in the incident is shown below:

Virgin Blue Boeing 737-800 VH-YIF – photo © Brett Shillabeer – pinkfroot.com

Flight VA41 was using callsign  VOZ41.

Bali Ngurah Rai Airport was closed shortly after the aircraft landed.

Data Sources:

Flight Data: http://planefinder.net/data/flight/VA41

Plane Finder Flight Track Playback: http://planefinder.net/flight/VOZ41/time/2014-04-25T06:36:26%20UTC/speed/120

Departure from Brisbane: http://planefinder.net/flight/VOZ41/time/2014-04-25T01:05:31%20UTC/speed/14

Aircraft Data: http://planefinder.net/data/aircraft/VH-YIF

Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was downed yesterday over Ukraine with the loss of all 295 passengers and crew.

News media report that Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, registration number 9M-MRD, was shot down by a surface to air missile.

The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft is the same model as the lost Malaysian Airlines MH370 aircraft reg 9M-MRO, that disappeared in March.

The 17 year old aircraft lost yesterday was built in 1997 and first flew 17 years to the day of the crash in Ukraine.

The route flown by MH17 on the 17th July is shown below.

MH17 Route – planefinder.net screenshot

Playback link of our last tracking data for the flight: http://planefinder.net/flight/MAS17/time/2014-07-17T13:06:35%20UTC/speed/1

At the time of disappearance from tracking MH17 was flying at 33,000ft over the Ukrainian conflict zone.

We have extracted our final tracking data for the aircraft for downlaod at: http://cdn-misc.pinkfroot.com/MH17.csv

MH17 also operated as KLM codeshare flight KL4103

MH17 had departed Schiphol Airport (AMS/EHAM), Amsterdam, Netherlands at 12:14 local time bound for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL/WMKK), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The flight was scheduled to land at 06:10 local time on the 18th July.

Departure playback:  http://planefinder.net/flight/MAS17/time/2014-07-17T10:25:09%20UTC/speed/12

The incident poses huge questions for the handling of air traffic in areas of conflict.

Here at planefinder.net we were tracking aircraft flying over the region over the last few weeks and even in the few hours after MH17 was shot down.

MH17 also flew over the area on the 16th July as shown below:

The same flight 24hrs earlier. Screenshot planefinder.net

An Air India Boeing 787, flight AI116, flying over Eastern Ukraine shortly after the incident is also shown below.

Air India Boeing 787 flying over Ukraine

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of all of the passengers and crew of MH17.

Data Links:

Aircraft data for 9M-MRD: http://planefinder.net/data/aircraft/9M-MRD

MH17 flight tracking history: http://planefinder.net/data/flight/MH17

MH17 final track playback from our tracking data: http://planefinder.net/flight/MAS17/time/2014-07-17T13:06:35%20UTC/speed/1

MH17 departure playback:  http://planefinder.net/flight/MAS17/time/2014-07-17T10:25:09%20UTC/speed/12

A TransAsia Airways aircraft has crashed and burst into flames whilst making an emergency landing in Taiwan.

Local media are reporting 47 deaths with 11 others seriously injured by the crash and fire.

Flight GE222 (callsign TNA222) took off from Kaohsiung Siaogang Airport (KHH), Taiwan sat 17:43 (scheduled departure 17:00) local time and was originally scheduled to land at Magong Airport, Penghu (MZG), Taiwan at 17:35 local time.

The weather in the area was reported to be very poor at the time with heavy rain caused by Typhoon Matmo.

Flight GE222 was reported to be carrying 54 passengers and four crew according to the Taiwanese news agency CNA and crashed close to the airport runway. Rescue work is currently ongoing.

The aircraft involved is reported to be an ATR 72-500, registration number B-22810.

Data Sources:

Flight GE222 (callsign TNA222): http://planefinder.net/data/flight/GE222

Note – we did not track the incident as the aircraft used for flights in July was not ADS-B equipped.

Aircraft: http://planefinder.net/data/aircraft/B-22810

We are looking for some help setting up the core of our new UK Multilateration (MLAT) ADS-B radar network.
To support this we are offering high quality receivers – completely free to good homes!

We have the following initial target locations:

• Swindon
• Worcester
• Northampton
• High Wycombe
• Sevenoaks
• Thetford
• Colchester
• Derby
• Liverpool
• Goole

We’ll supply the receiver, antenna and required cables.

To host a free MLAT receiver we need locations that meet the following criteria:

1. Antenna mounted above the surrounding rooflines (pole or tower mount)
2. 360º field of view (we are aiming for 200 miles line of sight)
3. Unlimited bandwidth broadband internet service (MLAT traffic won’t affect normal internet use but the data use does add up)
4. Internet connection via Ethernet cable (for reliability)
5. Able to respond quickly to problems (for example rebooting the system if it does trip up)
6. You will enjoy the equipment!

You will of course get free apps if you want them too!

If you would like to help, meet the criteria and are located in or near one of our target locations please complete our free ADS-B receiver form at http://planefinder.net/about/free-ads-b-receiver/ (the MLAT receivers are standalone and do not require a PC).

If your location isn’t listed and you think you could help in the future please fill out the form too!

We will of course be expanding our MLAT network across the rest of the UK – and the world!!

Any questions please let us know via support@pinkfroot.com

A decent ADS-B polar radar diagram – from Plane Finder sharing site