When you are flying here in the USA just ask "center" what your Mode C is
reporting. If its different than your altitude, center will most likely ask you
to turn off the "Mode C " on the transponder.
Jim Brown
Fergus Kyle wrote:
> Message text written by INTERNET:MJKTuck@cs.com
> >except for my Terra transponder which last year had me at 14,500 ft when I
> was at 3,500 ft. Someone on the Forum suggested I just turn it off then on
> again. I tried it and it worked.<
> Please, please if you get incorrect height readouts get it fixed asap. The
> reason is that these height readouts are used by aircraft fitted with TCAS.
> In effect aircraft so fitted will be given pitch demands to avoid any risk
> of collision based on position and height given by height encoding
> transponders. This is the one time when aircraft will disregard ATC until no
> further conflict exists. It is easy to see from this that an aircraft is
> sending out an incorrect height readout can cause another aircraft to depart
> from its cleared altitude and even worse may even cause a midair collision.
> Better to have mode C turned off rather than on at an incorrect height.
> Nigel Charles
>
> Nigel:
> Good point! When I left airline work, the newer TCAS instruments
> were just coming in, but control tie-in was not there........
> That begs the next question for us loners - how does one
> discover a fault in altitude reporting figures? No one wants to be part of a
> false flight diversion - so how can we avoid the onset? After all, most
> modern detectors are ever-vigilant and lightning-quick.
> Cheers, Ferg
>
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