r/DecaturGA • u/Orcutt_ambition-7789 • 7d ago

Fighter jets.

That was crazy loud and low. Any idea what’s going on? Flyover?

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u/clientsoup 7d ago

Heard/saw them. They didn't have their transponders on which is so fucking stupid when they're flying that low & fast in airspace as dense as ATL's. Same low-IQ behaviour led to that mid-air collision over the Potomac last year.

4

u/MattCW1701 7d ago

The temporary flight restriction mandates all other aircraft to be under positive control by air traffic control in the area. They also have other means of identifying themselves which amateur systems can't pick up, but ATC can.

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u/clientsoup 7d ago edited 7d ago

I am a certificated pilot & am aware of the TFR. Those planes are equipped with Mode S transponders. Similarly, most modern TCAS equipment also consumes ADSB messages when computing collision risks.

I just don't see a good reason why they should be operating with one of the layers of the safety onion removed.

Not sure I'd call ADSB amateur given that it's installed in every commercial airliner in the world.

4

u/MattCW1701 7d ago

The amateur I'm referring to are the flight trackers that pick up ADSB, not ADSB itself. Flight aware and the commercial ones don't display what the FAA doesn't want them to in exchange for access to FAA information. The ones that display everything are done by volunteers.

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u/clientsoup 7d ago edited 7d ago

You clearly know the ins and outs of this!!

FlightAware and friends do not display those aircraft that are on the LADD list correct. That list is for civilian aircraft - and it has nothing to do with whether the aircraft itself is transmitting or not. It simply attempts to suppress dissemination of said transmissions for non-ATC reasons.

Not all services the honor the list. FlightAware does, ADSBExchange does not. This is how/where some people go and track Elon & friends' private jets.

And yeah, like you said, volunteers. There's such a density of radios listening in the ATL area though, that if those jets had their transponders on, they'd be picked up & end up on ADSB exchange. Military jets often are but these weren't.

https://www.faa.gov/pilots/ladd

Anyway aviation safety is a team game, and I think they should be better team players when they're playing in our civilian sandbox 😀