What am I thinking?
Normally, 'why is that chimp flying around on a 7000 with his Mode C switched off, forcing all my RAS traffic to avoid him by 5nm'
I know some a/c are not fitted with mode C (Is it a cost saving or space/weight saving thing?) but to fly around with it turned off in class G is, omho, bad airmanship! A collegue had an airprox which could have easily been avoided if the civil aircraft involved had his Mode C selected.
If you are at say 4000' with no Mode C, not talking to anyone, and in a nice little bit of VMC then you are blocking sfc - FL245 for any RAS traffic in the area. You are also forcing extra calls to be made to RIS traffic. If you are manouvering laterally, then you will be affecting all traffic within, say, a 10nm radius in the lower and middle air.
It is also nice now to see some LARS units now asking aircraft to 'Squawk Mode C if able' as part of their initial spiel.
I have seen a few articles now in the PILOT type magazines explaining the need for Mode C. I even read about pilots deliberately switching it off because that was the norm in some other european countries, but it's not in the UK. Please pass it on to your flightline buddies.
Squawk Mode C