The FAA Has Issued An Advisory For All Aircraft, Whether Large Or Small, To Use Their Transponders In The Altitude Reporting Mode On The Ground

There was a time when transponders first entered wide use in general aviation that the rule was to always have it off or in standby on the ground, and to be prepared to use the standby mode if a controller requested it in flight. In those early days it was possible to overload the capability of controllers to follow transponder traffic. That’s changed, but there is still one very special place and time when transponders must be deactivated.

The FAA has recently issued a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) advising all operators and pilots of the need to ensure that transponders be on and in the altitude reporting mode whenever their aircraft is on an airport movement area at all airports.

This is because the FAA uses airport surface surveillance capabilities at some of the busiest airports in the U.S. to determine aircraft and vehicle location when they are operating on an airport movement area. Runway safety systems, such as Airport Surface Detection EquipmentModel X and Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System use data from surface movement radar and aircraft transponders to obtain accurate aircraft and vehicle locations.

The effectiveness of these grounded detection systems is dependent on operators equipping and operating cooperative surveillance capabilities (i.e., altitude reporting transponders). Nationwide, airports with the systems report an average of twenty non-compliance transponder events per day, even with airport diagram or ATIS, or both, verbiage directing pilots to operate with transponders on. The FAA is asking that all aircraft operating on all airport movement areas at all airports to have their transponders on in the altitude reporting mode, even if the airport is not equipped with the ground surveillance radar.

Even though the FAA is making quite an issue of using your transponder and altitude reporting at all times, there is one major exception to this rule and it’s coming up at the end of July. For those of you flying to EAA AirVenture, the NOTAM published for arrival and departure procedures into Wittman Regional Airport includes a paragraph with the following statement regarding the FISK VFR arrival to Oshkosh: “Ensure lights are on and transponder set to Standby within 30 miles of OSH.” Be sure to read the NOTAM carefully.

FMI: www.faa.gov