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Cool. I wonder what's happening with KLM 7021: http://i.imgur.com/ulwdC.png -- it seems to have taken off Amsterdam, then flew to the coast of Norway where it flew in circles.. then decreased the height while flying to Billund, Denmark, then finally returning to Amsterdam.


As a-priori pointed out in another reply:

My guess is that someone forgot to change the flight number on the transponder, so what you're looking at is the path of one plane over a couple flights.


How does that explain the circling?


I'm tempted to suggest that the aircraft was put into a holding pattern, likely due to foul weather at the destination, and eventually forced to reroute.


Indeed that is how holding pattern looks like.

Very low ceiling at Billund right now.


Could the circling be due to waiting for landing due to a lot of congestion at the airport? I'm not a pilot so I'm curious how that's normally handled.


Congestion is often handled via "stacking" aircraft in a pattern like you see in the image, separated for safety and timing of approach. There may well be other aircraft in the stack but not reported via that site or there may be just the one at that time. In either case, the apparent reroute suggests more than congestion.

(For the record: I am not a professional pilot but I have flown and have family who are commercial aviators going on some 40 years.)




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