1

I was just browsing the flight paths when I saw this: enter image description here
(FlightRadar24: SN2825 from BRU to BUD on 26 Jul 2022)

But normally the path is straighter like this (not flying over Zurich): enter image description here
(FlightRadar24: SN2825 from BRU to BUD on 25 Jul 2022)

I have seen even more deviation, like flying above Venice. This all adds some time to the total flight time.

Why is that? How can I know the reason?

Bianfable
  • 55,697
  • 8
  • 195
  • 257
Akos
  • 11
  • 2
  • 6
    Have you looked at weather maps and airspace closures at the time of the route? – Ron Beyer Jul 26 '22 at 20:26
  • 3
    Hi Akos, welcome to aviation.stackexchange. Please add the date of the flights to the question by using the edit function. WIthout knowing the date/time of these flight paths, it is going to be very hard to get a reliable answer. – DeltaLima Jul 26 '22 at 21:29
  • I updated the date/time (without links), but the radar url's are also available now. Hopefully they remain accessible over time. – Akos Jul 27 '22 at 09:30
  • @RonBeyer well, that could be a sufficient explanation for me. Even if I don't find such a map (where can I view the weather at a given point in the past, or the airspace closures, without any subscription). I would never have imagined of closures or such 'bad' weather to make such detour anyways, especially because other flights didn't make that deviation. But sometimes it is even a larger curve, down to Venice as I mentioned. – Akos Jul 28 '22 at 09:11

1 Answers1

2

This should explain it. Aircraft had to divert because of weather. this was the forecast for Thursday, but it was like this Tuesday as well. There were severe storms all across Germany during the week.

Juan Jimenez
  • 12,884
  • 2
  • 25
  • 67
  • I doubt that was the reason. We didn't have any rain yesterday in west Germany, e.g. Frankfurt reported 0mm rain yesterday (source). Also, other flights in a similar direction flew the normal route without the detour (e.g. SN2905 to Vienna). – Bianfable Jul 27 '22 at 12:13
  • 1
    Check out this screenshot from FR24's playback feature. There are many other aircraft in that area. – Bianfable Jul 27 '22 at 12:20
  • 1
    @Bianfable I would argue that that is neither how weather works, nor how airline dispatching works. Just because you didnt see the weather doesnt mean it wasn't there, and just because some airlines chose to go through/over the weather doesn't mean all will. – Jamiec Jul 27 '22 at 12:28
  • @Jamiec OK, maybe there was weather to avoid, but this answer doesn't show at all that this weather existed. The map is for a Thursday (tomorrow? last week?). I can't find a historical weather radar map of the region, but the forecast for 1500UTC (17:00 local) looked like this the evening before. Until evidence of thunderstorms is added to this answer, this is IMHO just speculation. – Bianfable Jul 27 '22 at 13:09
  • @Bianfable That I don't disagree with! – Jamiec Jul 27 '22 at 13:13
  • @Bianfable You don't have to have rain to be asked or told to divert for weather. "I can't find a historical weather radar map of the region..." So let me know when you do. You also don't need to have thunderstorms to divert, because turbulence doesn't require a thunderstorm either. This is Private Pilot 101 stuff, not rocket science. – Juan Jimenez Jul 28 '22 at 14:00