US 735 MAN-PHL unusual routing 9 Oct 2015
#1
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US 735 MAN-PHL unusual routing 9 Oct 2015
I flew US 735 MAN-PHL today and the flight took a pretty unusual northerly routing, hitting the southern coast of Iceland, then across Greenland, Baffin Island, and straight south through Quebec. we left pretty much on-time and were about an hour late.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...000Z/EGCC/KPHL
any ideas why they might have done that? other TATL flights took a slightly northerly routing but nothing even close to this one.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...000Z/EGCC/KPHL
any ideas why they might have done that? other TATL flights took a slightly northerly routing but nothing even close to this one.
#2
Join Date: Jun 2000
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Perhaps some equipment required for ETOPS was inoperable.
#3
Join Date: Dec 2003
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I flew US 735 MAN-PHL today and the flight took a pretty unusual northerly routing, hitting the southern coast of Iceland, then across Greenland, Baffin Island, and straight south through Quebec. we left pretty much on-time and were about an hour late.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...000Z/EGCC/KPHL
any ideas why they might have done that? other TATL flights took a slightly northerly routing but nothing even close to this one.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...000Z/EGCC/KPHL
any ideas why they might have done that? other TATL flights took a slightly northerly routing but nothing even close to this one.
Transatlantic commercial flights (mostly) follow the North Atlantic Tracks. The westbound current ones are here:
http://www.turbulenceforecast.com/at...und_tracks.php
The map up there now is newer than the one current when your flight departed MAN, but many of the tracks are farther north than usual, and the NAT A track that is current as I write this is only slightly south of what your flight flew.
The eastbound tracks are here:
http://www.turbulenceforecast.com/at...und_tracks.php
Generally, when there is significant variance between the east and west routes, there are strong winds across the ocean. Eastbound flights usually benefit, westbounds take a time penalty with the headwinds - or detour well north or south to minimize such delays. The North Atlantic winter winds tend to be far higher than the summer, with PHL-MAN/LHR flights sometimes being as much as an hour shorter with a strong tailwind, and we're getting closer to that time of year.
#4
Moderator: American AAdvantage
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Most likely winds aloft.
More on the North Atlantic tracks for avgeeks here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_Tracks
More on the North Atlantic tracks for avgeeks here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_Tracks
#5
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: New England
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It was strong headwinds. One of Delta's AMS-ATL flights stopped in BOS for fuel. (Aircraft was a 767-400) I'd imagine that your flight took that route to avoid some of these winds.
#6
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Gah, my slow brain was thinking MHT the first time I read this. That woulda been an unusual routing indeed!