N639DL

I found this on Twitter earlier, from CVG Airport's Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/CVGairport/statu...43919632109568

Tail is N673US. I wonder what the reason for the divert is. The plane (as of the time of this post) is still scheduled to fly DTW-CDG tonight.

readywhenyouare

Wow. I'm guessing this is the first passenger 747 to visit CVG since Sabena operated BRU-CVG with the 747-300. I think that service ended in the summer of 2000 when their alliance with DL ended.

RobertS975

Most likely DTW thunderstorms. Looks like they did a minor attempt at holding over mid-PA, the direct to CVG.

OHDL1

They cleared Customs/Immigration in CVG. Refueled, rebooked/rerouted and sent on to DTW. I think they were supposed to depart CVG around 4:40pm.

brocklee9000

I'm trying to figure out what was going on there. I understand there are limitations to the accuracy of these radar tracks, and you can see some anomalies if you zoom in over Massachusets/Connecticut/New York. However, that area with the odd course reversal, in the middle of Pennsylvania, seems almost...out of place. The 747 is still at FL380, and the groundspeed is well over 450 knots. The radar track seems to show a very sharp turn for a course reversal, then another sharp course reversal. I wonder if it's just an anomaly (since flighaware is using lots of ground-based ADS-B receivers to collect this data). I know my little Diamond DA-40 could make quick turns like that, but I've only done maneuvers like that in a 747 on my flight simulator

MSPeconomist

I once was on an A330 that did a very sharp turn for a medical diversion. It was the nonstop from AMS and we diverted to Ottowa about an hour and a half before scheduled landing at MSP.

rylan

Kind of surprised for them to divert a 747 due to WX after what only looks like a very minimal hold. You'd think they would have more reserves even with headwinds, and be given priority over domestic flights.

MSPeconomist

Plus a 747 can cope with strong winds. They can take off and land in conditions where even 757s cannot. I once experienced this in crosswinds where flight after flight (all mainline narrow body aircraft) was cancelled and then PMNW put everyone onto an old spare 747. It was a surprisingly smooth flight after all the drama.

LoganFlyer

Here's the FlightAware link for those interested:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N...835Z/LFPG/KCVG

The weather shown is as of mid-flight and not the end when the diversion decision would have been made.

MSPeconomist

It landed at CVG at about the same time--in fact, fifteen minutes later--as when it should have landed at DTW.

cvg22201

I happen to be in the Cincinnati area visiting some family and was surprised to see a DL 747 (DL 99) overhead early this afternoon. I've done a little digging and am still not quite sure why the flight diverted to CVG. Delta's website and Flightaware were showing the diversion at around 8:30 am ET this morning (5 hours before scheduled arrival) which leads me to believe that the diversion wasn't weather related. Someone inquired about DL 99's status at the Delta Assist twitter account and was told that it was a mechanical diversion (not weather). Which begs the question, what kind of mechanical issue (an issue discovered at least 5 hours before arrival) would necessitate a diversion to CVG (an airport further from CDG than the original destination, DTW).

MSPeconomist

It must be fun for the locals to see the 747 parked at CVG, but of course not so much fun for the diverted passengers.

NW.BTR.Than.The.Rest

an unscheduled Delta landing!

KDCAflyer

Visiting family and they live only a few miles away from CVG. Bummed that I missed it

brocklee9000

I still don't know if that was an attempted hold. The 747 cruises somewhere around Mach .84 or .85. Not sure what that translates to for indicated airspeed at FL380, but regardless, it's screaming through the air AND at a very high altitude. An airplane banking at half standard rate would have a fairly wide arc at those speeds, then the straight legs would be set up for a 1.5 minute leg inbound, and the airplane can cover a lot of ground in a minute and a half, something like 15 miles, but not nearly as long as those strange legs seem to be. Looking at those odd legs, they're about 30 miles in length.

Ultimately, I think it's an anomaly. When airplanes are cruising, they often are flying between RNAV waypoints and make nice, "pretty" looking turns. If you zoom in on the green track, it looks like they were going WSW, made a left turn SSW, then a right turn almost Westward again. The dashed blue flightplan line sort of corroborates this (flightaware sometimes plots points on a flight plan really funky). I've made a (very hasty and terribly looking) visual aid to show what I mean. The red line is just a parallel track, and the blue lines mark the point of the left turn to the southwest, and then the right turn back westward. I'm pretty sure that little erratic loop shape is just an anomaly. The flightaware data doesn't show any direction changes back toward the northeast, and that straight green leg after the second very sharp turn is very straight, and in the same direction as my red parallel track. The holding legs wouldn't have been nearly that long, would have looked nicer, had clean wide turns, even if they got new vectors or a clearance halfway through the hold.