Aa77 Switched Transponder Code At 8:40 Options

[woody]

In another thread, I came across this link here:

http://nuke.crono911.org/LinkClick.aspx?fi...=99&mid=505

For AA77, the report notes:

The mode 3A transponder code changed at 08:40 ET from 6553 to 3743.

This is absolutely new for me. Never heard of that.

I took a look at the ATC radio transcript. Apparently, the transponder code was switched when AA77 was handed over from Washington Center to Indy center:

8:40:15 HNN-R American seventy seven Indy center roger squawk three seven four three.

8:40:19 AAL-77 three seven four three American seventy seven.

Is it normal that a plane changes the squawk code when going from one ARTCC to another? It looks like Indy Center requested from AA77 to squawk the new code.

Can someone explain this to me?

[woody]

Here's the Flight Path Study with the ATC transcript:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB196/doc02.pdf

[rob balsamo]

Hi Woody,

I didn't see your post here before I explained the code switch here...

http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/index.p...&p=10790403

Hope this helps.

[JackD]

In another thread, I came across this link here:

http://nuke.crono911.org/LinkClick.aspx?fi...=99&mid=505

For AA77, the report notes:

The mode 3A transponder code changed at 08:40 ET from 6553 to 3743.

This is absolutely new for me. Never heard of that.

I took a look at the ATC radio transcript. Apparently, the transponder code was switched when AA77 was handed over from Washington Center to Indy center:

8:40:15 HNN-R American seventy seven Indy center roger squawk three seven four three.

8:40:19 AAL-77 three seven four three American seventy seven.

Is it normal that a plane changes the squawk code when going from one ARTCC to another? It looks like Indy Center requested from AA77 to squawk the new code.

Can someone explain this to me?

I find this change in the four-digit identifying code of the purported AA77 to be absolutely bizarre. Why would Capt Charles "Chic" Burlingame, a seasoned Vietnam F-4 pilot and Captain of AA77, CHANGE his four digit code, 6553 at the same moment his plane was passing from one air traffic control region to another? This transition or "handoff" surely is critical to be done right such that no one loses contact with a certain aircraft.

It would almost seem to me that this new code, 3743, might be from a different plane, or a 'spoof' of the actual AA77.

Allegedly, at 8:51 the contact is lost, then at 8:56 the transponder is turned off....
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14353825/T8-B15-...nts-of-Interest

[amazed!]

I don't think common would be the right word, but it is certainly not unusual to have the transpoder code changed by ATC. It just happened to me on Tuesday on the way to Charlotte.