Flight OE-FGR GDTAAA WSPRnet Analysis
Case Study
by Richard Godfrey and Dr. Hannes Coetzee (ZS6BZP)
28th October 2022
In previous papers we have successfully detected and tracked both large aircraft such as a
Boeing 777-300ER [1] and small aircraft such as a Diamond DA40 [2]. In this paper we analyse the
tragic flight of a Cessna 551 Citation II/SP registration OE-FGR, which crashed after fuel
exhaustion into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Latvia on Sunday 4th September 2022.
The aircraft departed Jerez-La Parra Airport (XRY) in Spain at 12:56 UTC, en route to Cologne
Airport (CGN) in Germany. The aircraft continued at FL360 through German and Swedish
airspace. The aircraft was not reachable by air traffic control authorities for some time. French,
German and Danish fighter jets were in turn dispatched to follow the aircraft. Reportedly the pilots
could not see anyone in the cockpit of the aircraft.
The purpose of this case study is to show how aircraft can be detected and tracked both in the
cruise phase of a flight in straight and level flight as well as in the descent phase whilst
descending and turning.
The dimensions of the Cessna 551 Citation II/SP are as follows. The length is 14.5 m, the wing
span is 15.9 m and the wing area is 31.8 m2. This is much smaller than the Boeing 777-200ER, the
aircraft operating the flight MH370, which had a length of 63.7 m, a wing span of 60.9 m and a
wing area of 427.8 m2. The wing area of this Cessna was 7.4% of that of MH370. The flight of
MH370 was detected and tracked using WSPR technology and is the subject of three previous
papers on the initial Flight Path Report (2021) [3], the Technical Report (2022) [4] and the final
MH370 Detection and Tracking Report (2022) [5].
Download the full Case Study HERE
Recognition to: Richard Godfrey and Dr. Hannes Coetzee (ZS6BZP)
