US jet that flew Pelosi to Malaysia turns north to Philippines
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US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is expected to arrive at 10.20pm local time in Taipei.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - A US air force jet that flew US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Malaysia headed towards Borneo before turning north to the Philippines in the most tracked flight on tracking website Flightradar24 on Tuesday (Aug 2).
Mrs Pelosi was expected to arrive in Taipei later on Tuesday, sources said earlier.
Almost 320,000 users are following every move of "SPAR19", a US Air Force-operated Boeing C-40C, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.
Like SPAR19, a second US air force plane arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday morning. According to Flightradar24, SPAR20 had not left the Malaysian capital.
Taiwan's Liberty Times newspaper had earlier reported that Mrs Pelosi is expected to arrive at 10.20pm local time via private plane at Songshan airport in Taipei, which also hosts a military base.
There is no official confirmation that Mrs Pelosi is on the plane. Her potential trip to Taiwan has infuriated Beijing, which views the island as its territory and has warned of consequences if the trip goes ahead.
FlightRadar24, a popular aircraft-tracking website, normally has several thousand users following aircraft of interest - including emergency incidents or inaugural flights.
The SPAR19 flight took off from Kuala Lumpur's Subang Airport at approximately 3.42pm, but headed east towards Borneo island instead of northeast to Taiwan, before turning north to the Philippines. As of 1130 GMT, SPAR19 was flying just south of the Philippines, according to Flightradar24.
A normal flight from Kualar Lumpur to Taipei would cross the South China Sea, with a typical flight time of under five hours.
Since last week, China’s People’s Liberation Army has conducted various exercises, including live fire drills, in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, in a show of Chinese military might.
The top 10 most-tracked flights in the world were going to Taiwan, according to FlightRadar24 data.
The second most-tracked plane on Tuesday after SPAR19 was a China Airlines flight from Jakarta to Taipei, with almost 20,000 followers.
A representative for the flight tracking company could not immediately respond to requests for comment.
