Odd Janet flight 2/10/2018

flightaware.com...

The flight is listed as a KLAS (McCarran) round robin (depart and land at same airport). The flight heads towards Groom, gets lost on tracking, heads towards Edwards or Palmdale, but then abandons that route and goes back to KLAS.

Altitudes are consistent with Groom flights.

a reply to: gariac My guess is employee drop off at Groom.

a reply to: Allaroundyou

Then why head in the wrong direction? The plane was on its way to California before turning around.

a reply to: gariac
Hmm well I got nothin then.

I would speculate that someone on the flight had an important need to be in Nevada and not California?

originally posted by: butcherguy
I would speculate that someone on the flight had an important need to be in Nevada and not California?

The whole thing is a bit weird. You need fuel, flight weather, etc. Turning around for no good reason is a bit annoying to the pilot, plus all these flights have some associated cost accounting. In Flight Emergency (IFE), you do what you need to do. "I left my slide rule at the AECOM terminal" is not a good excuse.

a reply to: gariac

They cancelled whatever they were heading to California for. Aircraft broke, or weather moved in, or whatever. No reason to keep going if that was the reason they were heading there.

originally posted by: gariac

originally posted by: butcherguy
I would speculate that someone on the flight had an important need to be in Nevada and not California?

.

The whole thing is a bit weird. You need fuel, flight weather, etc. Turning around for no good reason is a bit annoying to the pilot, plus all these flights have some associated cost accounting. In Flight Emergency (IFE), you do what you need to do. "I left my slide rule at the AECOM terminal" is not a good excuse.

True, but things do happen.
I know a guy that was on patrol on an SSBN and they had to surface during a cruise to have him lifted from the submarine to take care of his children because his wife was judged unsuitable as a parent and he had to take care of his children.
That really annoys the US Navy

a reply to: butcherguy

I'd be willing to bet weather related cancellation. The night before last, I checked the weather in Dallas for yesterday. It was supposed to be partly sunny, with light rain, and 50 degrees. We barely managed to make Abilene last night, and there were places the road was sheet ice on the other side. There was even a Tornado watch for the area, into Louisiana. And it was supposed to stretch up into central Oklahoma.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Weather at Palmdale wasn't too extreme according to www.ogimet.com...

which says
SPECI KPMD 102246Z AUTO 28027G37KT 3SM HZ FEW003 21/M01 A2980
RMK AO2 PK WND 32041/2219 T02111006=

decoding into English via this link

Report is a SPECIAL report
Location: KPMD
Day of month: 10
Time: 22:46 UTC
Report is fully automated, with no human intervention or oversight
Wind: True direction = 280 degrees, Speed: 27 knots, with Gusts of maximum speed 37 knots
Visibility: 3 Statute Miles
Weather: Haze
Clouds: A few , at 300 feet above aerodrome level
Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius
Dewpoint: -01 degrees Celsius
QNH: 29.80 inHg


PMD runways are 22 and 25 so I doubt that weather was an issue at Palmdale but maybe they didn't fancy it.

Ian

a reply to: spongthrush

I didn't say the weather at Palmdale though. Whatever they're testing has to get to the test area, which means the weather en route has to be good enough for it to fly through. Then the weather at the test area has to be good enough to conduct the test, which means that area has to be good enough to observe the test.

If it was something that needed in flight refueling, did they lose the tanker? There are any number of reasons to cancel. I'm sticking with weather, since it was worse than forecast.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Saturday afternoon test? I'm sticking with the slide rule left at the terminal!

On my TBD list is to replay the live ATC recordings.

a reply to: gariac

No reason they can't run tests on weekends. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen them do it. Especially if they're behind and have to make up some ground.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I listened to the ATC and it seems entirely normal to me, a handoff from LAS Departure to Nellis as usual for a TNX or Groom shuttle.

The flightaware track is inconsistent with mode-S pings from here
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I'm not suggesting the latter track is more accurate but it does fit the norm.

a reply to: spongthrush

It wouldn't be the first time I've seen different tracking sites completely disagree with each other.

originally posted by: spongthrush
a reply to: Zaphod58

I listened to the ATC and it seems entirely normal to me, a handoff from LAS Departure to Nellis as usual for a TNX or Groom shuttle.

The flightaware track is inconsistent with mode-S pings from here
adsbexchange

I'm not suggesting the latter track is more accurate but it does fit the norm.

That track just dies at one point. Is there a way to read the raw data? I'd also like to know if any of the points are MLAT, which often provides dubious data.

is he not on public ATC when he gets to NV/CA border?