Stupid transponder question, or, stumped by the wife

On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 16:15:54 GMT, "John Kirksey"
wrote:

So we were watching "Seconds From Disaster" on NGC last night, which
happened to be on AA 77. When they mentioned that seconds after gaining
control of the aircraft the hijackers turned off the transponder (along with
a brief explanation of what the transponder does), my wife simply says:

"That's stupid, why does something like that even have an on/off switch?"

I honestly never thought about it and couldn't answer her question. Does
anyone know?

Regards,

John K.



You need the ability to turn off the xponder inflight. One day I was
flying along and ATC called and asked me if anything was wrong. I said
everything is fine, why do you ask? They told me my xponder was
transmitting 7700. I looked at the xponder and confirmed that was NOT
what I have set - they said please turn it off - so I did.

When I'm on the ground, I set my xponder to standby, not off.

Ralph

wrote:
You need the ability to turn off the xponder inflight. One day I was
flying along and ATC called and asked me if anything was wrong. I said
everything is fine, why do you ask? They told me my xponder was
transmitting 7700. I looked at the xponder and confirmed that was NOT
what I have set - they said please turn it off - so I did.

When I'm on the ground, I set my xponder to standby, not off.


One other possible scenario: what if the transponder develops a short? Unless
you have a dedicated circuit breaker, you've got to have a way to take it our of
the loop.... otherwise it's fly around without ANY electrical device (turn off
the master).

Every electric device needs an on-off switch.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?

Jim

Every electric device needs an on-off switch.

"RST Engineering" wrote in message ...
Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?

Jim

Every electric device needs an on-off switch.



Isn't it good to have these electronic devices turned off when the plane is started to save them from all the surges on
the DC buss?

RST Engineering wrote:

Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?

The stall warning horn in all of my aircraft have two: The CB and the
one labeled "master".

In most Cessnas with electric horns, the CB is a hidden "auto-reset" device
that you can't pull. The master doesn't count.

Jim


"Chris Kennedy" wrote in message
...
RST Engineering wrote:

Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?

The stall warning horn in all of my aircraft have two: The CB and the
one labeled "master".

no electronic horn.. no way to turn it off.. as in the light weight
cessnas..

"Chris Kennedy" wrote in message
...
RST Engineering wrote:

Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?

The stall warning horn in all of my aircraft have two: The CB and the
one labeled "master".

RST Engineering wrote:
Every electric device needs an on-off switch.

Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?



The stall warning horn more than likely has a circuit breaker. And some stall
horns, like on the C-152, are pneumatic.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in message
...
RST Engineering wrote:
Every electric device needs an on-off switch.

Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?



The stall warning horn more than likely has a circuit breaker.

See my reply to Chris Kennedy


And some stall
horns, like on the C-152, are pneumatic.

That's rather gratuitous of you.

Jim

"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...
Then why doesn't the stall warning horn have one?

Cause nobody has yet found a way to turn off a butt which is what real
airplanes have for stall warning indicators. :-)

Jim

Every electric device needs an on-off switch.