Low Flying Plane - WI

[J. Worthington]

Friend works in Madison just reported an abnormally low flying plane. Frontier. Anyone in the area?

[dfwgator]

What’s funny, is that my kids may very well wind up going to A&M...so this could be very interesting down the road.

[GreenAccord]

Here is the most recent flight data from FlightAware.com for a Frontier aircraft landing at Dane County Regional. Is that the correct airport? (I would assume so as there's a listing for Frontier Airlines at that Madison area airport)

Also, here is the TRACK LOG for the flight which has an odd altitude anomaly near the end of the flight. Weird.

[GeronL]

The pilot saw his house being robbed?

[J. Worthington]

Yes. Dane County Regional airport.

[commonguymd]

02:14PM 42.78 -91.27 74° East 476 548 26,600 -9,120 Chicago Center
02:15PM 42.82 -91.11 75° East 459 528 11,000 -2,100 Chicago Center
02:16PM 42.85 -90.95 74° East 441 507 22,400 4,740 Chicago Center

[GreenAccord]

OK, now that I've posted that link, look for yourself. At 1:14pm (local WI time), that plane dropped 9,000+ feet in one minute. Folks, a human skydiver drops at about that rate (my calculations equate to that 9,000 foot drop equates to a 100+ mph downward decent).

[commonguymd]

And then rocketed back up at a very very fast pace. Strange!!!!!!!!

[Brad’s Gramma]

For later....

[buccaneer81]

Look at that chart. According to the altitude indicator they went from about 37,000 feet to 10,000 feet in FIVE MINUTES. That's a full bore emergency descent...and then some.

Then note an immediate climb up to 22,000. That's weird, too.

Either there was an incident or that chart is wrong.

[J. Worthington]

Thanks for confirming this!!!!

[pollywog]

Thanks for sharing this data. MOST interesting, and I agree with Worthington.
Sometimes freepers can be obnoxious! THanks for sharing Worthington.

[J. Worthington]

Can you tell if it landed safely?

[GreenAccord]

Yeah, my first reaction to seeing that chart is that it was very likely a data recording problem. But then, you hear about eyewitnesses here on the board seeing a Frontier airplane flying absurdly low, and then you’ve got to wonder if there’s truth to the altitude records.

[Jet Jaguar]

Good find.

[GeronL]

9,000 foot drop? wow

That is one big methane bubble or something

[EnquiringMind]

After looking at those numbers, I think there are a bunch of jerks on this thread who need to apologize to J. Worthington.

[commonguymd]

It certainly corresponds to the thread starting.

If those numbers are accurate, there was certainly panic on that plane both going down and in ascent.

[GeronL]

The FAA would have had to note such a drastic altitude change wouldn’t they?

[buccaneer81]

Nothing on the wires about it. By the look of the chart, at the end the speed and altitude indications look like a normal landing (altitude 0, speed about 150.)

[buccaneer81]

Hat tip to Green Accord.