Originally Posted by
BigBoeing
And also, can someone explain about how squawks will be allocated when everybody eventually has Mode S. I understand the principle to be that every airframe will have a unique identifer. Will this replace getting assigned a squawk?
Yes. Flights remaining within Mode S coverage will get a conspicuity squawk (I think it's 1000, details on Eurocontrol WWW site) for Mode A. However, the crew will still have to set their callsign in the Mode S box at the beginning of the flight (unless the FMS sets it automagically, I guess). It'll take a long while before there are many flights that qualify for this though.
Originally Posted by
BigBoeing
Will ATCO's be able to issue more squawks so we'll see squawks with 8's and 9's.
Very funny.
