Tokyo - Sydney Flight Path

FlightAware General
1

Hello,

I’ve been watching JAL flight 771 ( Narita → Sydney ) on the last 2 or 3 days. The flight path plotted shows the plane deviating from a direct route, which is almost N-S, in mid-Pacific, going off at a course of about 135 degrees, to an area around the Solomon islands, then turning due west, heading back until it reaches a direct route line, then heading south again. In other words, it plots two legs of a large triangle over the West Pacific.

The plane, of course, ignores this plotted route, and goes on a direct line. The plotted route, however, seems to throw off the distance, flight time, and estimated arrival times given ( eg showing an arrival time of about 0820 instead of 0620 ).

I’m a fairly new user of this site, so if I’ve missed something obvious, I apologise, but …???

2

Below the map is this statement: “At least part of this flight occurs outside of FlightAware’s primary service area. Learn more about FlightAware’s coverage and service areas here.” This could be the problem.

3

often the blue line does not actually match up with the filed route, but i’ve only noticed small “notches” or deviations from the actual filed path, of 10-20 miles. I don’t know if FA has a database of fixes and some of the location data is off or what. However that’s much bigger then most I notice.