What is the purpose of squawking 7777?

The name of the pictureThe name of the pictureThe name of the pictureClash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP












8












$begingroup$


Aircraft use transponders to communicate to ATC their position and status. Some squawk codes are reserved, such as 7700 (emergency), 7600 (communication failure), 7500 (hijacking), 1202 (glider), 1200 (VFR), etc. One of these, 7777, is apparently used for "military interception." What does this mean in the United States? Under what circumstances would it be used on a civilian / military aircraft?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$
















    8












    $begingroup$


    Aircraft use transponders to communicate to ATC their position and status. Some squawk codes are reserved, such as 7700 (emergency), 7600 (communication failure), 7500 (hijacking), 1202 (glider), 1200 (VFR), etc. One of these, 7777, is apparently used for "military interception." What does this mean in the United States? Under what circumstances would it be used on a civilian / military aircraft?










    share|improve this question











    $endgroup$














      8












      8








      8





      $begingroup$


      Aircraft use transponders to communicate to ATC their position and status. Some squawk codes are reserved, such as 7700 (emergency), 7600 (communication failure), 7500 (hijacking), 1202 (glider), 1200 (VFR), etc. One of these, 7777, is apparently used for "military interception." What does this mean in the United States? Under what circumstances would it be used on a civilian / military aircraft?










      share|improve this question











      $endgroup$




      Aircraft use transponders to communicate to ATC their position and status. Some squawk codes are reserved, such as 7700 (emergency), 7600 (communication failure), 7500 (hijacking), 1202 (glider), 1200 (VFR), etc. One of these, 7777, is apparently used for "military interception." What does this mean in the United States? Under what circumstances would it be used on a civilian / military aircraft?







      usa transponder






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Feb 9 at 21:44







      Pheric

















      asked Feb 9 at 21:07









      PhericPheric

      16811




      16811




















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          18












          $begingroup$

          In countries outside of the US, 7777 may be used by test transponders (RABMs) to check correctness of radar stations (BITE). e.g. on top of a mountain.



          In the US, it seems that it is used as well on active air defense missions without ATC clearance. This would mean that the interceptor aircraft would change it's squawk to 7777 for the military/civilian air traffic controller to see it properly (if not filtered out on civil radars).



          A link to the US intercept procedures is here.






          share|improve this answer











          $endgroup$








          • 1




            $begingroup$
            Why the downvotes? This is correct.
            $endgroup$
            – pericynthion
            Feb 9 at 22:58






          • 4




            $begingroup$
            Yep, I have been wrong for about 10 years now. I would have sworn the craft being intercepted was the squawker of 7777. Edited to add my link to the FAA doc. Deleted my wrong answer, and upvoted this.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 9 at 23:10







          • 2




            $begingroup$
            @RyanMortensen good thing you didn't get intercepted in the last 10 years :)
            $endgroup$
            – pericynthion
            Feb 10 at 2:19










          • $begingroup$
            @pericynthion yeah, I may need to have a chat with some people I have learned it wrong from and spread the knowledge.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 10 at 16:11










          • $begingroup$
            You know, now that I think about it, I bet I was told that by retired Air Force guys who mixed up the roles' codes.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 10 at 16:19


















          6












          $begingroup$

          According to the AIM 4-1-20(e):




          1. Under no circumstances should a pilot of a civil aircraft operate the
            transponder on Code 7777. This code is reserved for military
            interceptor operations.



          The ATC orders don't add anything useful and a lot of security procedures are classified, or at least not publicly available on faa.gov. But it seems from that information that a) 7777 is important for interception operations, and b) civilian pilots must not use 7777. That implies that 7777 is reserved for interceptor aircraft, not the aircraft being intercepted.



          The FAA's interception instructions for pilots say that intercepted aircraft should squawk 7700.



          See this question too.






          share|improve this answer









          $endgroup$












            Your Answer





            StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
            return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
            StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
            StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
            );
            );
            , "mathjax-editing");

            StackExchange.ready(function()
            var channelOptions =
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "528"
            ;
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
            createEditor();
            );

            else
            createEditor();

            );

            function createEditor()
            StackExchange.prepareEditor(
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
            convertImagesToLinks: false,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: null,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader:
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            ,
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            );



            );













            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function ()
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faviation.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f59964%2fwhat-is-the-purpose-of-squawking-7777%23new-answer', 'question_page');

            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            2 Answers
            2






            active

            oldest

            votes








            2 Answers
            2






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            18












            $begingroup$

            In countries outside of the US, 7777 may be used by test transponders (RABMs) to check correctness of radar stations (BITE). e.g. on top of a mountain.



            In the US, it seems that it is used as well on active air defense missions without ATC clearance. This would mean that the interceptor aircraft would change it's squawk to 7777 for the military/civilian air traffic controller to see it properly (if not filtered out on civil radars).



            A link to the US intercept procedures is here.






            share|improve this answer











            $endgroup$








            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Why the downvotes? This is correct.
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 9 at 22:58






            • 4




              $begingroup$
              Yep, I have been wrong for about 10 years now. I would have sworn the craft being intercepted was the squawker of 7777. Edited to add my link to the FAA doc. Deleted my wrong answer, and upvoted this.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 9 at 23:10







            • 2




              $begingroup$
              @RyanMortensen good thing you didn't get intercepted in the last 10 years :)
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 10 at 2:19










            • $begingroup$
              @pericynthion yeah, I may need to have a chat with some people I have learned it wrong from and spread the knowledge.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:11










            • $begingroup$
              You know, now that I think about it, I bet I was told that by retired Air Force guys who mixed up the roles' codes.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:19















            18












            $begingroup$

            In countries outside of the US, 7777 may be used by test transponders (RABMs) to check correctness of radar stations (BITE). e.g. on top of a mountain.



            In the US, it seems that it is used as well on active air defense missions without ATC clearance. This would mean that the interceptor aircraft would change it's squawk to 7777 for the military/civilian air traffic controller to see it properly (if not filtered out on civil radars).



            A link to the US intercept procedures is here.






            share|improve this answer











            $endgroup$








            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Why the downvotes? This is correct.
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 9 at 22:58






            • 4




              $begingroup$
              Yep, I have been wrong for about 10 years now. I would have sworn the craft being intercepted was the squawker of 7777. Edited to add my link to the FAA doc. Deleted my wrong answer, and upvoted this.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 9 at 23:10







            • 2




              $begingroup$
              @RyanMortensen good thing you didn't get intercepted in the last 10 years :)
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 10 at 2:19










            • $begingroup$
              @pericynthion yeah, I may need to have a chat with some people I have learned it wrong from and spread the knowledge.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:11










            • $begingroup$
              You know, now that I think about it, I bet I was told that by retired Air Force guys who mixed up the roles' codes.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:19













            18












            18








            18





            $begingroup$

            In countries outside of the US, 7777 may be used by test transponders (RABMs) to check correctness of radar stations (BITE). e.g. on top of a mountain.



            In the US, it seems that it is used as well on active air defense missions without ATC clearance. This would mean that the interceptor aircraft would change it's squawk to 7777 for the military/civilian air traffic controller to see it properly (if not filtered out on civil radars).



            A link to the US intercept procedures is here.






            share|improve this answer











            $endgroup$



            In countries outside of the US, 7777 may be used by test transponders (RABMs) to check correctness of radar stations (BITE). e.g. on top of a mountain.



            In the US, it seems that it is used as well on active air defense missions without ATC clearance. This would mean that the interceptor aircraft would change it's squawk to 7777 for the military/civilian air traffic controller to see it properly (if not filtered out on civil radars).



            A link to the US intercept procedures is here.







            share|improve this answer














            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited Feb 9 at 23:08









            Ryan Mortensen

            3,284636




            3,284636










            answered Feb 9 at 21:28









            blackswanblackswan

            31624




            31624







            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Why the downvotes? This is correct.
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 9 at 22:58






            • 4




              $begingroup$
              Yep, I have been wrong for about 10 years now. I would have sworn the craft being intercepted was the squawker of 7777. Edited to add my link to the FAA doc. Deleted my wrong answer, and upvoted this.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 9 at 23:10







            • 2




              $begingroup$
              @RyanMortensen good thing you didn't get intercepted in the last 10 years :)
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 10 at 2:19










            • $begingroup$
              @pericynthion yeah, I may need to have a chat with some people I have learned it wrong from and spread the knowledge.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:11










            • $begingroup$
              You know, now that I think about it, I bet I was told that by retired Air Force guys who mixed up the roles' codes.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:19












            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Why the downvotes? This is correct.
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 9 at 22:58






            • 4




              $begingroup$
              Yep, I have been wrong for about 10 years now. I would have sworn the craft being intercepted was the squawker of 7777. Edited to add my link to the FAA doc. Deleted my wrong answer, and upvoted this.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 9 at 23:10







            • 2




              $begingroup$
              @RyanMortensen good thing you didn't get intercepted in the last 10 years :)
              $endgroup$
              – pericynthion
              Feb 10 at 2:19










            • $begingroup$
              @pericynthion yeah, I may need to have a chat with some people I have learned it wrong from and spread the knowledge.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:11










            • $begingroup$
              You know, now that I think about it, I bet I was told that by retired Air Force guys who mixed up the roles' codes.
              $endgroup$
              – Ryan Mortensen
              Feb 10 at 16:19







            1




            1




            $begingroup$
            Why the downvotes? This is correct.
            $endgroup$
            – pericynthion
            Feb 9 at 22:58




            $begingroup$
            Why the downvotes? This is correct.
            $endgroup$
            – pericynthion
            Feb 9 at 22:58




            4




            4




            $begingroup$
            Yep, I have been wrong for about 10 years now. I would have sworn the craft being intercepted was the squawker of 7777. Edited to add my link to the FAA doc. Deleted my wrong answer, and upvoted this.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 9 at 23:10





            $begingroup$
            Yep, I have been wrong for about 10 years now. I would have sworn the craft being intercepted was the squawker of 7777. Edited to add my link to the FAA doc. Deleted my wrong answer, and upvoted this.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 9 at 23:10





            2




            2




            $begingroup$
            @RyanMortensen good thing you didn't get intercepted in the last 10 years :)
            $endgroup$
            – pericynthion
            Feb 10 at 2:19




            $begingroup$
            @RyanMortensen good thing you didn't get intercepted in the last 10 years :)
            $endgroup$
            – pericynthion
            Feb 10 at 2:19












            $begingroup$
            @pericynthion yeah, I may need to have a chat with some people I have learned it wrong from and spread the knowledge.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 10 at 16:11




            $begingroup$
            @pericynthion yeah, I may need to have a chat with some people I have learned it wrong from and spread the knowledge.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 10 at 16:11












            $begingroup$
            You know, now that I think about it, I bet I was told that by retired Air Force guys who mixed up the roles' codes.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 10 at 16:19




            $begingroup$
            You know, now that I think about it, I bet I was told that by retired Air Force guys who mixed up the roles' codes.
            $endgroup$
            – Ryan Mortensen
            Feb 10 at 16:19











            6












            $begingroup$

            According to the AIM 4-1-20(e):




            1. Under no circumstances should a pilot of a civil aircraft operate the
              transponder on Code 7777. This code is reserved for military
              interceptor operations.



            The ATC orders don't add anything useful and a lot of security procedures are classified, or at least not publicly available on faa.gov. But it seems from that information that a) 7777 is important for interception operations, and b) civilian pilots must not use 7777. That implies that 7777 is reserved for interceptor aircraft, not the aircraft being intercepted.



            The FAA's interception instructions for pilots say that intercepted aircraft should squawk 7700.



            See this question too.






            share|improve this answer









            $endgroup$

















              6












              $begingroup$

              According to the AIM 4-1-20(e):




              1. Under no circumstances should a pilot of a civil aircraft operate the
                transponder on Code 7777. This code is reserved for military
                interceptor operations.



              The ATC orders don't add anything useful and a lot of security procedures are classified, or at least not publicly available on faa.gov. But it seems from that information that a) 7777 is important for interception operations, and b) civilian pilots must not use 7777. That implies that 7777 is reserved for interceptor aircraft, not the aircraft being intercepted.



              The FAA's interception instructions for pilots say that intercepted aircraft should squawk 7700.



              See this question too.






              share|improve this answer









              $endgroup$















                6












                6








                6





                $begingroup$

                According to the AIM 4-1-20(e):




                1. Under no circumstances should a pilot of a civil aircraft operate the
                  transponder on Code 7777. This code is reserved for military
                  interceptor operations.



                The ATC orders don't add anything useful and a lot of security procedures are classified, or at least not publicly available on faa.gov. But it seems from that information that a) 7777 is important for interception operations, and b) civilian pilots must not use 7777. That implies that 7777 is reserved for interceptor aircraft, not the aircraft being intercepted.



                The FAA's interception instructions for pilots say that intercepted aircraft should squawk 7700.



                See this question too.






                share|improve this answer









                $endgroup$



                According to the AIM 4-1-20(e):




                1. Under no circumstances should a pilot of a civil aircraft operate the
                  transponder on Code 7777. This code is reserved for military
                  interceptor operations.



                The ATC orders don't add anything useful and a lot of security procedures are classified, or at least not publicly available on faa.gov. But it seems from that information that a) 7777 is important for interception operations, and b) civilian pilots must not use 7777. That implies that 7777 is reserved for interceptor aircraft, not the aircraft being intercepted.



                The FAA's interception instructions for pilots say that intercepted aircraft should squawk 7700.



                See this question too.







                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered Feb 10 at 1:58









                PondlifePondlife

                51.6k9139285




                51.6k9139285



























                    draft saved

                    draft discarded
















































                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Aviation Stack Exchange!


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid


                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

                    Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function ()
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faviation.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f59964%2fwhat-is-the-purpose-of-squawking-7777%23new-answer', 'question_page');

                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown






                    Popular posts from this blog

                    How to check contact read email or not when send email to Individual?

                    Displaying single band from multi-band raster using QGIS

                    How many registers does an x86_64 CPU actually have?