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Flight plans are filed in advance, but a flight plan is just a plan. It's an impossible task to predict where an airplane will fly in advance, there are so many variables involved.

Just some of the many reasons a flight will vary from flight plan:

-Avoiding convective build up (thunderstorm)

-Avoiding turbulence for passenger comfort (changing altitude)

-Unexpectedly high headwinds (changing altitude)

-A cold front causes winds to shift, so the runways in use change

-Low clouds limits arrival/departure rate, so holding is needed

-Snow removal from runways/taxiways



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