Lack of flight data over Africa...

I was attempting to track my Mother’s flight from LHR to JHB and while the time to arrival etc. kept changing, the flight icon became stationary on the map once the aircraft left European airspace. Anyone have any insights? I was raving about the site and now everyone’s bitterly dissapointed that they can’t watch the flight’s progression.

There is a severe lack of air traffic control over a lot of Africa, especially radar control.

Take a look at the FAQ’s regarding FlightAware’s service area.

I’m sure you mean JNB and not JHB. The latter is the airport code for Sultan Ismail International Airport in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

"How does FlightAware handle international flights? What is FlightAware’s service area? (Back to top)

FlightAware’s primary service area includes the United States (including Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam), Canada, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. Flights in the primary service area support real time maps, departure and arrival information, delays, and more.

FlightAware’s secondary service covers scheduled major airline operations at any airport in the world. Flights in the secondary service area support departure and arrival information."

We have global flight status for major airlines but tracking is only available where we have government or airline cooperation. If we go more than 5 minutes without an actual position, we’ll being projecting positions and draw a gray airplane where we think the aircraft most likely is. So you should never be without an airplane on the map for an en route flight.

For example this Virgin flight from LHR to JNB has positions almost the entire way to the destination.