Flight radar fans...can I ask a question?

[NutBiscuit]

I know there's lots of you out there! Hooing someone can shed some light on this...

I am trying to find a flight that took off from the UK last night heading for Cape Town.

When I search the flight number it doesn't give me the "live map" option any more. If I watch the playback it tracks it to the edge of the African continent then ends.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a weird "black hole" of FR reporting over central Africa?!

Has it landed?

Oh, I've found it (sorry, most boring thread ever!).
No, not landed, due to land in approx 2 hours. It's just popped up off the coast of Namibia but it definitely wasn't there before...wonder if there is some issue with data over that area maybe?

There are areas where Flightradar24 can’t get information on the flight - maybe it’s in one of those. Also sometimes even in an area with coverage flights will not show up. I’m sure Iread why these things are in their FAQs once - have a look on their website if you want more details.

High flying aircraft transmit data (e.g. altitude, speed, GPS position, and more) to Air Traffic Control. Amateurs can buy receivers which can eavesdrop on this data and then display it on whatever device (e.g. PC) the owner has at home. If they wish can share the data over the web via “Flight Radar” ...In short what you see on Flight radar is mainly the sum of inputs from hundreds if not thousands of these receivers.

The receivers themselves are small bits of kit which might not (at best) be able to “see” an aircraft at a distance of more than hundred/two hundred miles if the aircraft is at high altitude, and if the aircraft at low altitude (e.g. coming into land) then the range might just be a handful of miles.

That means in simple terms Flight-radar has gaps in it’s coverage wherever there is a lack of “spotters” (e.g.desert, ocean) and it can also have poor coverage around airports if there isn’t a local spotter.

Finally...some aircraft choose not to make all of any of the info available to the general public - military flights and also some business jets are examples of this.