MLAT is working only with Mode S
Hosting FR24 since 2013. and have several other SDR receivers.
With the exception of the UK, how many aircraft are flown without Mode S, particularly touring aircraft?
Peter_Mundy wrote:
With the exception of the UK, how many aircraft are flown without Mode S, particularly touring aircraft?
In countries where mode S is not mandated for VFR, I think there are lots… IFR is a different matter as by EU law, mode S is required for all IFR. (Even if some AIPs haven’t kept up with this requirement.)
Loads of Annex 1, but it is controversial to discuss it 
Loads in Ireland. Mode S isn’t required here for VFR, so most don’t upgrade unless the mode C transponder dies.
dublinpilot wrote:
Loads in Ireland. Mode S isn’t required here for VFR, so most don’t upgrade unless the mode C transponder dies.
Same in Norway. When the old mode C dies, mode S is installed. But mode S has been around for some time now, so there is a fair amount of mode S around.
Supposedly you can install Mode C but only if same model as the old Mode C.
Peter wrote:
Loads of Annex 1
Quite a lot are installing mode-S or at the very least an ADS-B EC device such as the SkyEcho. The last beach fly-in I did to Knott End Sands (overwhelmingly microlighters) probably half of them had some kind of transmitting EC device and these aircraft are at the rootiest bit of grass roots flying. A lot of the annex-1 aircraft at the airfield where I do my annual maintenance have a mode-S transponder these days.
Coverage is certainly still far from 100% but I wouldn’t be surprised if mode-S and/or ADS-B installations in annex 1 at least matched that of <2T certified these days.
Unfortunately the LAA is not doing itself any favours whatsoever by making the transponder/radio installation paperwork on PtF aircraft significantly more burdensome than CS-STAN (the LAA really ought to have a principle that its procedures will never be more onerous than that required for certified aircraft).
What I had in mind were the substantial populations of “foreign” reg Annex 1 based around Europe and flying around Europe. If you pick almost any seen somewhere, you find zero FR24/FA record, especially for the PH-reg ones. Of course 99% cannot legally fly IFR anyway so arguably they don’t need Mode S.
Mode S and the trail it leaves behind for years is a bit of a hostage to fortune. If had an Annex 1 I would remove the Mode S txp immediately
See the link I posted above; the LAA is simply wrong. But hey they are 64k short now and if this happens again they will need to get others to buy the lunches 
Peter wrote:
If had an Annex 1 I would remove the Mode S txp immediately
Do you need to “program” the mode S transponder? I don’t think you do for other than EASA certified aircraft. Mode S without the bits set is essentially (for practical purposes) mode C isn’t it?
