General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI have a question about planes "Transponders".....
Can anyone give me one good reason why transponders have an "off" switch?
As important as they are why would this be an option?
Just as the engine "ping" cannot be disengaged ... you would think airlines would make transponders continue to communicate while the plane is running.
My humble question of the day....
MH
quinnox
(20,600 posts)when all the planes are on the ground, then it would cause a big mess for the controllers trying to taxi the planes to take off safely.
moondust
(19,917 posts)MysticHuman
(219 posts)My only thought on it would hamper ground control is that it shouldn't be hard to put the a transponder on a different frequency thus eliminating interfering whenn it is on the ground.
I did read some are moving to overcome the interference issue which is good..but this should have been done years ago.
Thanks again
MH
jmowreader
(50,447 posts)If you need to run the engines as part of a service, you've got to power up the plane but ATC doesn't need to know about it because you're not going anywhere.
MysticHuman
(219 posts)solve this issue.
If you need two transponders ...one that does show up to the tower... and one that doesn't and can't be turned off ... have two then.
For me there should be no reason that a transponder transmitting on a separate channel should be possible.
Thanks for your input.
MH
longship
(40,416 posts)It is needed.
Mojo Electro
(362 posts)there are times when it is apropriate for the transponder to be off. I believe it's really only used while in flight.
It is actually just put in "standby" mode where it is not transmitting, though I believe it can be disabled by pulling the circuit breaker that supplies power to it.
Here is a picture of the transponder control panel on a 777 console, which is positioned in between the 2 pilots on the right side next to the seat, with the transponder switch shown in the "standby" position.
Kilgore
(1,733 posts)Not having an off switch would just mean opening the appropriate circuit breaker to kill the system.
Kilgore
MysticHuman
(219 posts)I am just saying there has to be a way to keep some type of communication from the plane to the ground that can't be stopped or overridden.
Mh