Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Where are all the squawk codes?

Asked by: 1832 views , , ,
Airspace

Someone must have asked this by now, but I havent been able to to find the answer on the internet or from any other flight instructor.

There are obviously many more aircraft under ATC control at any one time than there are available transponder 4 digit codes (0000 - 77xx).  Does anyone know how ATC handle this problem?  My only guess is codes are reused for flights in different parts of the country that are sufficiently separated.  

 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Feb 29, 2020

    Your assumption is correct. If you have done any amount of IFR flying, you will have encountered cases where you have been requested to change your squawk code, particularly on a longer flight. I wonder why.

    Also with ADS-B Out, pilots are asked to include the CODE value in their flight plan. This is the hexadecimal 6 character unique aircraft ID that your ADS-B Out system uses. This value is broadcast by your ADS-B Out system to uniquely identify the aircraft and is related to your N number via an algorithm. It can supplement the squawk code, in some instances not requiring a code change enroute when you enter a sector that has another aircraft assigned the same squawk code. You can look up the hex CODE value in the FAA aircraft registry found online.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.