Is this pilot lost? Unusual flight pattern?
What's going on here? Am I missing something? The flight below appears to have turned early to land at OAK, then changes and ends up landing at SFO per their original flight plan.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e43f15c6ee.jpg |
Lots of possible reasons, including delayed for spacing into SFO. Not a turn toward OAK.
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That’s almost certainly a delay vector requested by ATC for spacing.
0% chance the pilot was lost there. |
The pilot's ex lives down there. They were taking a detour to flush the toilet over the ex' house.
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Pilot was following ATC instruction. Commercial aircraft Don't just fly randomly in congested airspace
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Gotcha. Thanks. I always assumed flights had to circle around the airport in a holding pattern to get in line to land when it is busy. Didn't know they could just zig-zag their way in.
I guess the pattern reminded me of a private flight I was on a few years ago flying from Clearwater to Key West. We were flying down the Florida coastline. As we were crossing over Fort Myers, the pilot punched in a new vector direct to Key West. The plane suddenly banked and turned 90 degrees heading directly out into the Gulf of Mexico towards Mexico. After I told him we weren't heading to Key West anymore, and after the ATC asked him what he was doing and where he was going, and after we had a near miss, he realized he punched in the wrong airport. I thought the same guy might have been flying the plane last night to SFO. |
Zig-zaging in is more normal these days than orbiting closer in. Plan A is simply slowing down, then take a few turns a few hundred miles out to kill time, then maybe orbit a while in close. Orbiting is tough to do in San Fran since there are three large commercial airports within 30 miles of each other, plus private fiels and whatever occasionally flies out of Moffett these days.
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To answer OP's question. No, the PIC was not "lost".
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Originally Posted by darrenpb
(Post 32075140)
Gotcha. Thanks. I always assumed flights had to circle around the airport in a holding pattern to get in line to land when it is busy. Didn't know they could just zig-zag their way in.
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Originally Posted by Sykes
(Post 32074065)
That’s almost certainly a delay vector requested by ATC for spacing.
0% chance the pilot was lost there.
Originally Posted by SFO 1K
(Post 32074045)
Lots of possible reasons, including delayed for spacing into SFO. Not a turn toward OAK.
A common San Jose take off is going north but not in a straight line. Instead, the plane takes off going north then does an almost immediate left (west turn) then goes south past San Jose airport then makes a wide turn north. In doing so it is now higher in altitude and flying over the East Bay slightly east of Oakland Airport. In contrast, SFO flight often take off to the northeast then make a slight left turn so they are going north but are flying on a trajectory west of the SJC north bound planes. They are also probably flying a little lower. See post #1 for a map. |
Here's a sectional with overlays showing the relatively new (August 2018) Class B airspace around SFO.
Blue is the new definition and Yellow the old one. They tweaked it mostly to allow better flow to SJC, San Carlos (SQL), Palo Alto (PAO), and Moffett Field (NUQ) without compromising SFO traffic. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4256ba2959.jpg This may give you a better idea of what the airspace actually looks like, especially if you're unfamiliar with reading a sectional chart. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...97520b8a1d.jpg As you can see, it's a lot like an inverted wedding cake. Hope this helps. - Plat |
Originally Posted by darrenpb
(Post 32075140)
Gotcha. Thanks. I always assumed flights had to circle around the airport in a holding pattern to get in line to land when it is busy. Didn't know they could just zig-zag their way in.
I guess the pattern reminded me of a private flight I was on a few years ago flying from Clearwater to Key West. We were flying down the Florida coastline. As we were crossing over Fort Myers, the pilot punched in a new vector direct to Key West. The plane suddenly banked and turned 90 degrees heading directly out into the Gulf of Mexico towards Mexico. After I told him we weren't heading to Key West anymore, and after the ATC asked him what he was doing and where he was going, and after we had a near miss, he realized he punched in the wrong airport. I thought the same guy might have been flying the plane last night to SFO. |
Originally Posted by username
(Post 32074147)
The pilot's ex lives down there. They were taking a detour to flush the toilet over the ex' house.
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Originally Posted by darrenpb
(Post 32075140)
Gotcha. Thanks. I always assumed flights had to circle around the airport in a holding pattern to get in line to land when it is busy. Didn't know they could just zig-zag their way in.
I guess the pattern reminded me of a private flight I was on a few years ago flying from Clearwater to Key West. We were flying down the Florida coastline. As we were crossing over Fort Myers, the pilot punched in a new vector direct to Key West. The plane suddenly banked and turned 90 degrees heading directly out into the Gulf of Mexico towards Mexico. After I told him we weren't heading to Key West anymore, and after the ATC asked him what he was doing and where he was going, and after we had a near miss, he realized he punched in the wrong airport. I thought the same guy might have been flying the plane last night to SFO. |
Originally Posted by darrenpb
(Post 32075140)
Gotcha. Thanks. I always assumed flights had to circle around the airport in a holding pattern to get in line to land when it is busy. Didn't know they could just zig-zag their way in.
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