Nearly six million attempt to follow Queen’s coffin on flight tracking website

13 September 2022, 19:34

Queen Elizabeth II death
Queen Elizabeth II death. Picture: PA

The vast number of viewers caused problems for Flightradar24’s website around the time the plane took off from Edinburgh.

Tracking website Flightradar24 said “nearly six million people attempted to follow” the flight carrying the Queen’s coffin from Edinburgh to RAF Northolt in London.

The number of people attempting to track the plane on Tuesday caused the website to run into problems, but not before more than half a million were able to briefly follow.

“In the moments before take-off, nearly six million people attempted to follow the flight, causing disruption to our platform,” a statement on Flightradar24’s Twitter account read.

“We are working to ensure stability across our platform at the moment.”

A later tweet confirmed: “600k able to follow. Six million total attempts (which is what brought the site down).”

Flight KRF01R was the most-tracked flight in the world on Flightradar24 once the website recovered, with more than 350,000 watching the Boeing C-17A Globemaster III as it moved south through the UK, having left Edinburgh at 7.42pm on Tuesday.

The plane landed shortly before 7pm in north-west London.

By Press Association

More Technology News

See more More Technology News

Microsoft surface tablets

Microsoft outage still causing ‘lingering issues’ with email

The Google logon on the screen of a smartphone

Google faces £7 billion legal claim over search engine advertising

Hands on a laptop

Estimated 7m UK adults own cryptoassets, says FCA

A teenager uses his mobile phone to access social media,

Social media users ‘won’t be forced to share personal details after child ban’

Google Antitrust Remedies

US regulators seek to break up Google and force Chrome sale

Jim Chalmers gestures

Australian government rejects Musk’s claim it plans to control internet access

Graphs showing outages across Microsoft

Microsoft outage hits Teams and Outlook users

A person holds an iphone showing the app for Google chrome search engine

Apple and Google ‘should face investigation over mobile browser duopoly’

UK unveils AI cyber defence lab to combat Russian threats, as minister pledges unwavering support for Ukraine

British spies to ramp up fight against Russian cyber threats with launch of cutting-edge AI research unit

Pat McFadden

UK spies to counter Russian cyber warfare threat with new AI security lab

Openreach van

Upgrade to Openreach ultrafast full fibre broadband ‘could deliver £66bn boost’

Laptop with a virus warning on the screen

Nato countries are in a ‘hidden cyber war’ with Russia, says Liz Kendall

Pat McFadden

Russia prepared to launch cyber attacks on UK, minister to warn

A Google icon on a smartphone

Firms can use AI to help offset Budget tax hikes, says Google UK boss

Icons of social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp, are displayed on a mobile phone screen

Growing social media app vows to shake up ‘toxic’ status quo

Will Guyatt questions who is responsible for the safety of children online

Are Zuckerberg and Musk responsible for looking after my kids online?