No, We’re Not Asking About An Exotic Pet Bird…This Is About Your ATC Transponder
As a recreational pilot that flies VFR all the time and seldom uses any type of tower controlled airspace, it’s common to just leave your transponder set to 1200 and not think much about it. However, it’s important to understand that your transponder must still meet testing requirements even though you’re just boring holes in the sky. Let’s take a look at the transponder, its background, and why the heck it “squawk’s.”