Sqawk Ident
 

Working in Iraq I am hearing more and more often when ATC asks the aircraft to Ident, the aircrews responding with "XXX with a Flash"

Since when and why? AIM still says Ident...

I must be getting old, this bugs me.

Gabi

Don't let it bug you; it's a bit of fun. Civil pilots don't say it too much but some military pilots do. They probably know it's going to flash on the radar.

I also fly around in Iraq, and it seems every controller you are handed over to wants you to ident. Come to think of it, it's only really the american controllers who ask you to do that.

When asked to ident, I don't reply, because they will obviously know I heard the transmission by the fact that I IDENT. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

This whole "with a flash" BS I leave to the military guys flying around there.

But you need to reply to confirm it was you then responded to the call and is identing...

Agree with sideshow_90, anything to do with SSR is a mandatory readback and it bugs me that when requested, I don't get an acknowledgement and have to ask again.

When a frequency or sector is particularly busy, the controller often has to speak continually for short periods, so rather than release his transmit switch/button to await a reply, they say 'ident to acknowledge'. I hasten to add this is not UK practice but I've heard it used by US controllers.

But, at least in UK terms, is this not an incorrect use of SSR as you're using 2 wholly separate methods of identification. Recognition of a 4 digit code and use of the squawk ident feature. I've always found this to be a very north American thing, perhaps why it's being seen in Iraq...

What do the american ATC's reckon. I just seems that when you do read back, "Squawk Ident" and they are busy, you can sense they are a bit annoyed and that it was an unnecessary readback. A bit like reading back "standing by" when told to stand by, by ATC. None of the American pilots read it back, if it is the only instruction. I.E. "XYZ, squawk ident".

It's a little frustrating flying out there, because you have Iraqi ATC's who seem to have thankfully not been trained by the yanks. They stick to ICAO/Non Yank R/T. Then next minute you get handed across to someone with a thick texan accent, who uses completely different terminology.

You could make the same argument with Mode S. Why read back the cleared flight level if they can see that you've selected the level on the Mode S?:rolleyes:

Avoiding_Action - because we (ATC) have no idea which configuration the aircraft is being flown in, and although the Mode S is displaying correctly, that does not mean the aircraft is going to that level. Secondly, sometimes different levels are set to get the aircraft moving - ie following late handover from the French, given a restriction FL130 level GWC, but then the Mode S reads FL80 for about 30 seconds before reading FL130. I was informed this just "gets the thing going down" as they knew it was a tight restriction.

In the UK, it's only the units at Area or Terminal Control who have mode 'S' capable displays, the rest of them have to make do with A/C only.