They're Watching Us

Lowflynjack

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Jack Fleetwood
Yesterday a friend of mine flew from out local airport down to the coast and back. He flew VFR and did not use flight following or talk to anyone during the flight.

Our airport manager got a call from Houston about an emergency and they not only said the N-number, but also knew the owner's name, which happened to be the pilot's brother. His transponder was on 1200, and probably has been for years. After looking at Flight Aware, all we can think is that he has a tail beacon and it cuts out occasionally, and it did on this flight.

Do they watch us that closely even when we're not talking to them? That seems to be the only way this could have happened.
 
Well, no responses yet, but I now have more information. I posted this on our local Austin Pilots Facebook page and got a response back from a controller who was on duty at the time. He said my friend was squawking 7700 for 20 minutes. Our avionics guy called me and said he's seen this happen on old transponders, especially after a transponder cert, which he had just done on this plane. Something about rotating through all of the numbers during the test.
 
Well, no responses yet, but I now have more information. I posted this on our local Austin Pilots Facebook page and got a response back from a controller who was on duty at the time. He said my friend was squawking 7700 for 20 minutes. Our avionics guy called me and said he's seen this happen on old transponders, especially after a transponder cert, which he had just done on this plane. Something about rotating through all of the numbers during the test.
That makes sense. Did the avionics shop rotate it back to 1200 and confirm that's what was being squawked at the end of the test?
 
That makes sense. Did the avionics shop rotate it back to 1200 and confirm that's what was being squawked at the end of the test?
Yeah, the controller also said it was randomly changing later in the flight. He said it happens at least once a week.
 
Time to buy a new transponder!
Probably so! The controller replied, "not sure what types and such but I'd say once a week or so we will have an aircraft that squawk changes randomly and they will say they're squawking right code yet one of the digits randomly changes on its own. Electronic grimlins I suppose. The scary ones are the ones who's Mode C is off by 5 or 6 hundred feet. Safe flying!"
 
Probably so! The controller replied, "not sure what types and such but I'd say once a week or so we will have an aircraft that squawk changes randomly and they will say they're squawking right code yet one of the digits randomly changes on its own. Electronic grimlins I suppose. The scary ones are the ones who's Mode C is off by 5 or 6 hundred feet. Safe flying!"
On my instrument cross-country lesson, my mode C was consistently working but mode A was intermittently failing, so they had an altitude-only target or something. ATC suggested I check on the warranty on my transponder, which left me laughing myself almost off the airway before I responded that the KT76A warranty is probably expired. I bought a GTX 335 shortly after that trip.
 
Probably so! The controller replied, "not sure what types and such but I'd say once a week or so we will have an aircraft that squawk changes randomly and they will say they're squawking right code yet one of the digits randomly changes on its own. Electronic grimlins I suppose. The scary ones are the ones who's Mode C is off by 5 or 6 hundred feet. Safe flying!"

So to accidentally squawk 7700, all 4 octal digits need to simultaneously glitch in the correct way to light up 7700? That seems sus. You sure your friend isn't just masking a oops? :)
 
So to accidentally squawk 7700, all 4 octal digits need to simultaneously glitch in the correct way to light up 7700? That seems sus. You sure your friend isn't just masking a oops? :)
No, I'm now hearing it happens all the time. Trust me, if this guy's transponder comes off of 1200, something has gone wrong!
 
I never had one do that but I did have a transponder that would test fine, then randomly show an altitude 10K higher than I was while on a cross country. Stopped for gas and was given a number to call, they wanted to know why I was flying at 25.5k feet without an IFR clearance haha. I agreed to use flight following the remainder of the trip to avoid the confusion. Finally pushed me into upgrading to a GTX345.
 
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