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Air carrier dispatcher reported confusion regarding a flight's status due to an ATC error in entering the destination airport; a track change due to warning areas becoming hot and a citizen; observing the flight on flight tracker; erroneously reporting that the flight was diverting due to a medical emergency.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1019497 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201206 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B757-200 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Dispatcher |
| Qualification | Dispatch Dispatcher |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
While flight following using flight explorer; I noticed under events list [aircraft X] with a destination change and the events block turning red to indicate an event change. The aircraft display on flight explorer showed a track change to f- track from e-track. I called center to confirm destination change and controller confirmed destination had changed. Track change was because of W-289S going active soon. I then contacted arinc for a phone patch with flight to confirm destination. Captain advised destination was still originally planned destination and track change was for military airspace becoming active. The mystery only deepens when reservations called in to confirm flight was going to a medical emergency. A caller to reservations indicated that the aircraft was diverting. I believe the caller was using flight tracker or similar internet software and observed the error'ed destination change. The caller even indicated that the captain made an announcement that they were diverting for medical an emergency. It is believed that the center controller entered wrong destination. Perhaps flight tracker or similar flight following internet sites should be turned off to the general public.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air Carrier Dispatcher reported confusion regarding a flight's status due to an ATC error in entering the destination airport; a track change due to Warning Areas becoming hot and a citizen; observing the flight on Flight Tracker; erroneously reporting that the flight was diverting due to a medical emergency.
Narrative: While flight following using Flight Explorer; I noticed under events list [Aircraft X] with a destination change and the events block turning red to indicate an event change. The aircraft display on Flight Explorer showed a track change to F- track from E-track. I called Center to confirm destination change and controller confirmed destination had changed. Track change was because of W-289S going active soon. I then contacted ARINC for a phone patch with flight to confirm destination. Captain advised destination was still originally planned destination and track change was for military airspace becoming active. The mystery only deepens when Reservations called in to confirm flight was going to a medical emergency. A caller to Reservations indicated that the aircraft was diverting. I believe the caller was using Flight Tracker or similar internet software and observed the error'ed destination change. The caller even indicated that the Captain made an announcement that they were diverting for medical an emergency. It is believed that the Center Controller entered wrong destination. Perhaps Flight Tracker or similar flight following internet sites should be turned off to the general public.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.