I hit 1,000 days in a row tracking flight data, here is what shocked me

Started logging every flight path from my home scanner back in 2021, just for fun. After 1,000 straight days I noticed the same 12 aircraft keep circling our area at 3am, but their transponder codes change every week. Has anyone else seen patterns like this in their local flight logs?

2 comments

2 Comments

fionam112d ago

Whoa, wait a second. Youre reading way too much into this. Those 12 planes are probably just the same regional cargo routes, and the transponder codes change because thats literally how the system works, they rotate them on a schedule for tracking and safety reasons. If you actually looked at the flight numbers or the actual paths, youd see theyre not identical, they might be a few miles off or at slightly different altitudes, which means theyre just doing standard delivery loops for packages or medical stuff. Honestly, this sounds like your brain is finding patterns where there are none, which happens when you stare at the same data for 1,000 days straight. Id bet a hundred bucks that if you pulled the actual flight origin and destination data, youd find totally boring answers like "supply plane to the hospital" or "overnight mail run.

theas281d ago

Fionam, you're ignoring the REAL issue here. Those 12 planes have shown up at the same time every single night for 34 days straight, and the transponder codes are NOT rotating on a normal schedule. My guy actually tracks these things for a hobby and he noticed the codes skip three specific ones that the FAA uses for emergency military tests. Also, the flight paths deviate by 2 miles every time, which is way too precise for a cargo loop. Cargo planes don't do that, they fly straight lines.