Flight-a-Scare

I love the FlightAware.com site.

I use it to track flights and arrivals to pick people up at the airport.  It even shows arrival gates – an important feature in an airport like DFW where gates can be a quarter-mile apart.

But …

Yesterday (8/27) at 10:53 PM – Eastern Time, FlightAware became Flight-a-Scare as the inbound flight I was going to meet  (American Airline #791) apparently dropped out of Memphis ATC Control, descended from 40,000 feet in altitude to 10,200 within 6 minutes; and moved +4 degrees latitude and +11 degrees longitude.

See the tracking page here:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL791/history/20100828/0100Z/KLGA/KDFW/tracklog

It wasn’t until 25 minutes later (11:18) that the data feed resumed from Memphis Center and the inbound flight statistics were “real” again.

The disembarking passengers showed no evidence of a 30,000′ plunge that took them from the Nashville area to Washington, DC all within six minutes. That, and an immediate “bounce” after landing from ground level back to 40,000 feet in altitude was something, too.

What a ride that would have been!