What's this helicopter on Flightradar doing?

[srob]

I'm sat at home waiting for the rain to stop and had a look on Flightradar.

Noticed this helicopter heading into Norwich. Why the zigzag, or is it just a quirk/glitch of the program as the helicopter lowers in stages?

Just curious

[Eric Mc]

Idiotic and insensitive post binned

[Simpo Two]

Radar by Etch-A-Sketch

[srob]

Wonder if it was the pilot's Christmas do last night

[Grant76]

Eric Mc said:

Idiotic and insensitive post binned

You still did though, didn't you?

Hope you find yourself funny.

[Eric Mc]

Of course.

[surveyor]

Grant76 said:

Eric Mc said:

Idiotic and insensitive post binned

You still did though, didn't you?

Hope you find yourself funny.

Give the guy a break. He is an accountant and has to take the opportunity to use humour where he can.,,,

[Eric Mc]

surveyor said:

Grant76 said:

Eric Mc said:

Idiotic and insensitive post binned

You still did though, didn't you?

Hope you find yourself funny.

Give the guy a break. He is an accountant and has to take the opportunity to use humour where he can.,,,

It's not often.

[pherlopolus]

Is he checking power lines?

[richwig83]

GPS glitch.

[RizzoTheRat]

It was being flown by a bishop but then the rook took over

[srob]

RizzoTheRat said:

It was being flown by a bishop but then the rook took over

I'm a newbie to. Flightradar, it's fascinating (and annoys the gf as I keep checking it).

I seem to remember there being a similar shipping one? There's a few apps but they're paid ones which is fine if they're any good!

[CAPP0]

pherlopolus said:

Is he checking power lines?

I did briefly wonder, but I have actually done that job in the past (as pax (Transmission Engineer), not the pilot!) and although the heli does hover at each tower (pylon), it generally flies a path parallel to the line - so the line would have to be following a rather unusual path

[Stupeo]

srob said:

I'm a newbie to. Flightradar, it's fascinating (and annoys the gf as I keep checking it).

I seem to remember there being a similar shipping one? There's a few apps but they're paid ones which is fine if they're any good!

OP, don't look at http://www.shipais.com/

[Eric Mc]

On a bright clear day, Flightradar 24 is great for identifying the various aircraft you will see passing overhead.

A few months ago, I also used it to track my stepson's flight from Heathrow all the way to Singapore.

Flightradar doesn't pick up on everything though. There are quite a few aircraft that don't carry the necessary type of transponder to be recognised by the system Flightradar 24 uses.

[srob]

How about this one then? Is this just a malfunction or is this plane doing laps?

Sorry about all the questions, just idle curiosity

[spitfire-ian]

Stupeo said:

srob said:

I'm a newbie to. Flightradar, it's fascinating (and annoys the gf as I keep checking it).

I seem to remember there being a similar shipping one? There's a few apps but they're paid ones which is fine if they're any good!

OP, don't look at http://www.shipais.com/

I find this one a bit more user-friendly http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/

[motomk]

With the helicopter, might be in and out of coverage so flightradar is having a guess between returns???

[edcs]

srob said:

How about this one then? Is this just a malfunction or is this plane doing laps?

Sorry about all the questions, just idle curiosity

ATC could have delayed them entering controlled airspace or they may have 'forgotten' to file their flight plan and needed to do it airborne.

[srob]

edcs said:

srob said:

How about this one then? Is this just a malfunction or is this plane doing laps?

Sorry about all the questions, just idle curiosity

ATC could have delayed them entering controlled airspace or they may have 'forgotten' to file their flight plan and needed to do it airborne.

That may make sense actually. There's a lot of military flying in this area, and there's been a lot even by local standards recently. Maybe they had to dodge an Apache, Chinook or even an F15