Minesapint
There should be 6143 individual codes available accounting for 3 lost to emergency use.
Perhaps a rethink on how to use these would have been in order, with the option of having a smarter ground based system for handover purposes etc.
However it is obvious things have moved a lot further down the skyways.
It is still difficult to see how 6134 numbers can be used up in the relatively localised coverage radar provides.
I can see how bandwith can be saturated, but by interrogating at intervals, which may well be how it is done a present, should have alleviated the problem.
Is it the same committee designed approach that has resulted in a population of 60 million including babies requiring some 10 billion telephone numbers to cope?