What could have happened here?

Hi,

I just caught some weird flight on FR24. Simply put, an Air Canada 777 on the way from Munich to Toronto landing... in Frankfurt. So far, so good, can happen, the strange thing is, it's being shown as having flown from Munich to the Norh Sea, making a U-turn off Stavanger, Norway and then flying virtually all the way back to EDDF. Flight number was AC847. Anyone got an idea what's happening there, what could cause such thing? It's about to touchdown right now Rwy 25C.

Greetings,

Mike

I don't know what FR24 is, but it could be a maintenance test flight, or it might have turned around because of something needing repair, or perhaps even a training flight, though those are less common since they've got such superb simulators these days.

I suppose it's possible, too, that it could be some secret military flight, mislabeled for security, though I'd count that as unlikely.

But since it apparently made a U-turn, it well could be a maintenance problem.

...and if it was a maintenance problem they may have diverted to someplace where the problem could be fixed instead of their departure point.

peace,

the Bean

I don't know what FR24

Flightradar24.com

Apparently they did not return to their point of departure (Munich) but rather to Frankfurt, which is a major maintenance base, at least for Lufthansa. Most airlines have contracts in place for service in places outside of their usual stomping grounds, and it is quite likely that AC has a contract with LH for this sort of thing.

As for what "this sort of thing" might be, there are many and varied reasons why a flight might have to turn back on a transoceanic trip, some of them seemingly minor, such as loss of a piece of gadgetry required on the NAT tracks.

From just this quick glimpse, it appears that they air-interrupted to an airport where AC had a maintenance contract in place for some needed repairs.

By the way, I hope they flew not merely "virtually" all the way back, but really all the way back!!