Strange Flight Route.

[webbo3]

I saw this aircraft flying over Bristol just after 1pm, after looking on flight radar it was it was flying east to west continually and very close together covering pretty much the whole of Bristol, any ideas what it could be doing.?

[Tilly2]

Spying?

[Canary42]

Mapping/aerial photography.

[jno]

Covid marshals looking for their prey

[Mamyalynne]

Aerial surveys of Gas Pipelines is a possible.

http://pmc.nationalgrid.co.uk/service-groups/services/aerial-survey/

[Hopkirk]

I suspect Canary has got it. Google, Apple or the like taking thousands of aerial photos for their services.

[webbo3]

hopefully this will work.
https://www.flightradar24.com/2020-09-18/13:05/12x/PHPNX/25891161

[AuntPollyGrey]

I would guess its aerial photography for Google Earth.

[Hopkirk]

Yes, it worked. The operator of the aircraft is recorded as Aerodata.

[webbo3]

so what could they be recording.?

[Hopkirk]

Well it may not be the same company, but there is a Belgian company called Aerodata International Surveys who do aerial photography

[webbo3]

thanks for all the good answers, but as they are all so good i can't award a best answer as it would be unfair.

[jno]

you could discount mine, for a start.

[webbo3]

lol ^

[237SJ]

There was a lot of mapping going on during lockdown. We had a lot of that going on around Heathrow whilst there were hardly any flights in or out of the airport. Google etc took full advantage of that.

[zebo]

When I used the link the planes looked to be going exceedingly fast when compared with flight tracker!