Leaving Jerez in Spain and heading for Cologne in Germany, a Cessna 551 registered in Austria crashed off Latvia, Sunday, September 4. The private jet had been flying over Europe (France, southern Belgium and Germany) for tens of minutes, but no longer answer multiple attempts at radio contact. Joined very quickly by a French Rafale, on the alert of the National Air Operations Center (CNOA) of Lyon Mont Verdun, it was then escorted by the German Army and then the Swedish army. At no moment contact or visual with the pilots could not be made.
The aviation community quickly shared the news on Twitter. Since the FlightRadar24 air traffic monitoring sitethe alert assumed such proportions that they were more than 140,000 internet users to follow the plane, still in the air, passing the German coast near Hamburg. A real-time tracking of an aircraft without a conscious pilot on board, which displeased some, calling on the platform to deactivate the tracking of the aircraft registered OE-FGR. Taken by storm in recent months to denounce the ecological impact of private jets, the FlightRadar24 platform recalls this month that it can also save the horror.
‼️#Cessna551 sinking in the Baltic Sea
🔸Left from Spain, the device no longer responds to calls from air traffic control
🔸The pilots would be oblivious
🔸 After 5 hours of flight, the aircraft seems to have crashed off Latvia after a spin (-8000 ft/min)#OEFGR pic.twitter.com/yZUn3avWSd— Aero Gazette ✈️ (@AeroGazette) September 4, 2022
The profile of the flight until the crash
In flight at level 360 (36,000 feet, or nearly 11 kilometers high), the Cessna 551 may have encountered a pressurization failure. At this altitude, the effects are immediate. The 2 pilots as well as the 4 passengers registered on this flight must have lost consciousness at the time of the breakdown, but nothing is official yet. In view of the profile of the flight until the crash, we can all the same expect a failure of this kind followed by a fuel starvation and a device stall. The fall (-8000 feet/minute) in the circular form is not surprising for an aircraft with one of the two wings trying to regain lift.
One thing is certain however, the data recorded on FlightRadar24 is substantially close to reality. To obtain them, the platform retrieves aircraft ADS-B data, which includes GPS data updated every second, transponder code, and information such as altitude and speed. ADS-B data from an aircraft can be received on receivers at significant distances. FlightRadar24 relies on its community, and in view of global aircraft coverage, we understand that many of them have radio receivers tuned to the correct frequency.
Unlike other more discreet platforms, FlightRadar24 displays very few military flights and government aircraft. Filtering is performed by moderation teams. Consequently, several netizens were pointing the finger at the platform and its comprehensive coverage of the Cessna 551 crash event, instead of removing its tracking. out of respect for the victims and their loved ones.
It’s special to see it live :/
— Valentine/Dayon (@___Dayon___) September 4, 2022
“It would be interesting to consider a function allowing to interrupt the flow for a given flight… especially if this one is in danger and/or whose outcome promises to be dramatic… people do not have to see that”reacted one of them under a tweet published by the platform, inviting Internet users to join the follow-up of the flight by a link. “Frankly disturbing to see what is happening on FlightRadar24”wrote another. “It’s special to see the flight live, I had to cut it I think”they answered him.
In the past, other air crashes have been recorded by FlightRadar24 and the platform also lists on a page links to the most emblematic flight profiles of recent years. And many of them are crashes, such as Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was hit by a missile over Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
