A word about equipment codes...

[Karl Sawatzky]

A word about equipment codes to Canadian registered aircraft pilots and Canadian Air Traffic Controllers,

 

Equipment codes are just one of the MANY VITAL PIECES of information in your flight plan that are used and consulted by Air Traffic Controllers to determine the appropriate level of service that controllers are able to provide you, based on your equipment type.

 

For example, if you file the equipment code "/S", that tells the controller that you would be unable to fly an RNAV (GNSS) approach plate into an aerodrome and therefore, they would not be able to authorize you for that approach. If an ATIS current stated that an RNAV (GNSS) approach is in use, or if there were only RNAV (GNSS) approaches for an aerodrome in IMC, you and the controller would have to determine an alternative solution for your approach.

 

The equipment code you file is a crucial piece of information to controllers and should not be tossed aside lightly. Every piece of information in your flight plan is just one piece of the puzzle that is your flight plan; the equipment code being one very important piece. Without an equipment code, or a proper equipment code, a controller will be unsuccessful in piecing together your flight plan and therefore, unable to provide proper and safe Air Traffic Services to you.

 

Too often, as well, I notice Canadian registered aircraft filing equipment codes current with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from the U.S. or equipment codes from other country governing aviation bodies. Filing these equipment codes is not helpful to Canadian Controllers. It IS appropriate, however, for an American registered aircraft flying TO or FROM a Canadian aerodrome to file an equipment code current with the FAA, for example.

 

For pilots who use any sort of flight planning software (SimBrief, PFPX, etc.); the software/program will often "spit out" a certain letter designation for your aircraft type that it estimates would be correct. However, this is often INCORRECT, whether that be for currency reasons, equipment codes for a different country, or simply the incorrect code altogether. This needs to be addressed and corrected manually BEFORE the flight plan is sent from your program to the VATSIM servers. Extreme Caution and review should be taken when submitting your software/program created flight plan to VATSIM. Review your flight plans with precision.

 

Finally, and without getting into too much detail here because it can get confusing, because of our limitations with VATSIM, the differences between primary radar, secondary radar, ADS-B, etc., and our various Radar Clients, we are limited in the way our radars identify and correlate aircraft. Specifically, for those users utilizing Euroscope as their radar client, as many VATCAN controllers do, Euroscope correlates your flight plan with your physical aircraft (a crucial step in providing radar services) using many various features; one of them being your equipment code.

If your aircraft has an S-Mode transponder available (as opposed to a Mode A+C transponder, or no transponder at all), that transponder is able to send a vast amount of information to the controller. However, on VATSIM and with Euroscope, even if you have an S-Mode transponder, are squawking "Mode Charlie", and the correct squawk code, a radar controller may only be able to see a limited amount of information if your Equipment Code designation is incorrect or missing!

 

Now, because Nav Canada is a private company and the FAA is a public government department, getting a hold of certain aviation docomeents from Nav Canada can be difficult as they usually require payment. In this case, we would be talking about a current and up-to-date copy of the Canadian Flight Supplement (CFS), which sells for $29.00 CAD currently and is available through the Nav Canada store (http://products.navcanada.ca/Products/Canada-Flight-Supplement) The FAA publishes most, if not all, of their relevant aviation docomeents to the public domain.

 

However, pilots and controllers should always maintain current and working knowledge of all aviation docomeents and procedures if they are controlling or flying within Canadian Airspace.

 

In short, while an equipment code may seem like and look to be a small part of your flight plan (just one letter!), it is a vitally important one and should be ensured to be correct, along with your entire flight plan.

 

And finally, if you are ever unsure of the proper equipment code for you or have any questions about this, there is a plethora of information on the internet to help you (found with a simple Google Search), docomeents and publications, and of course, any controller you are in contact with at the time. Controllers are always more than willing to [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ist you in every stage of your flight, including your flight planning!

 

Thank you for your time, for reading this, and taking the time to remedy this situation.

 

Onwards & Upwards!

 

EQUIPMENT PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

AIRCRAFT

 

(a) COM/NAV equipment

INSERT one letter as follows:

and/or

INSERT one or more of the following letters to indicate the COM/NAV approach aid equipment

available and serviceable:

NOTES:

1. If the letter "Z" is used, specify in "Other Information" the other equipment carried, preceded by

COM/ or NAV/, as appropriate.

2. If the letter "J" is used, specify in "Other Information" the equipment carried, preceded by DAT/,

followed by one or more letters as appropriate.

3. Inclusion of the letter "R" indicates that an aircraft meets the RNP type prescribed for the route

segment(s), route(s) and/or area concerned.

4. The letter "W" is not to be used for formation flights, regardless of the RVSM status of the aircraft

within the flight.

(b) SSR equipment

INSERT one of the following to describe the serviceable SSR equipment carried:

/H – HEAVY, to indicate an aircraft type with a maximum certificated takeoff m[Mod - Happy Thoughts] of

136,000 kg (300,000 lbs) or more.

/M – MEDIUM, to indicate an aircraft type with a maximum certificated takeoff m[Mod - Happy Thoughts] of less

than 136,000 kg (300,000 lbs) but more than 7,000 kg (15,500 lbs).

/L – LIGHT, to indicate an aircraft type with a maximum certificated takeoff m[Mod - Happy Thoughts] of 7,000 kg

(15,500 lbs) or less.

Separate the type of aircraft and wake turbulence category from the COM/NAV equipment by a

hyphen (-), then, following the COM/NAV suffixes add a forward slash (/) and denote the SSR

equipment.

N – if no COM/NAV approach aid equipment for the route to be flown is carried, or the

equipment is unserviceable

or

S – STANDARD (VHF, ADF, VOR and ILS)

A (Not allocated)

M (Not allocated)

B (Not allocated)

O VOR

C LORAN

P (Not allocated)

D DME

Q (Not allocated)

E (Not allocated)

R RNP type certification (Note 3)

F ADF

T TACAN

G GNSS

U UHF

H HF RTF

V VHF

I INS

W RVSM certification (Note 4)

J Data Link (Note 2)

X MNPS certification

K MLS

Y CMNPS certification

L ILS

Z Other equipment carried (Note 1)

N Nil

 

A Transponder-Mode A (4 digits-4096 codes)

C Transponder-Mode A (4 digits-4096 codes) and Mode C

X Transponder-Mode S, without both aircraft identification and pressure-altitude transmission

P Transponder-Mode S, including pressure-altitude transmission, but no aircraft identification

transmission

I Transponder-Mode S, including aircraft identification transmission, but no pressure-altitude

transmission

S Transponder-Mode S, including both pressure-altitude and aircraft identification transmission.

D ADS capability

 

Examples:

Aircraft Equipment Write

Cessna 172 VHF only and no transponder C172/L-V/N

Cessna 414 TCAS equipped,light weight

VHF, VOR, ADF, ILS,

DME, HF and Mode AMode

C transponder

C414/L-SDH/C

USE OF TRANSPONDER CODES

IFR:

Controlled High Level Airspace – Mode A, Code 2000 plus Mode C, if no direction is

given by ATC.

Uncontrolled High Level Airspace – Mode A, Code 2000 plus Mode C if available, if no

direction is given by ATC.

Controlled Low Level Airspace above 12,500 ASL

– Mode A, Code 1000 plus Mode C, if no direction is

given by ATC.

All Other Low Level Airspace – Mode A, Code 1000 plus Mode C if available, if no

direction is given by ATC.

VFR:

Code 1200, for operation at or below 12,500 ASL.

Code 1400, for operation above 12,500 ASL.

NOTE: If an aircraft leaves confines of an airspace in which a specific code was [Mod - Happy Thoughts]igned, the pilot

is responsible for changing to the applicable code above.

Emergencies – COMM Failure – Mode A, Code 7600

Emergency – Mode A, Code 7700

Hijack – Mode A, Code 7500

CAUTION: Pilots should select transponder codes with care so as to avoid inadvertent selection

of emergency codes.

Flight crews of aircraft equipped with transponders capable of Mode C automatic altitude reporting

capability are requested to adjust their transponders to transmit Mode C when operating in Canadian

Airspace unless deactivation is requested by ATC.

Edited November 20, 2016 at 10:44 PM by Guest

[Kirk Christie]

A couple of things.

 

This should be in the Canada section of the forum.

 

VATSIM only use FAA equipment codes, you cannot change this.

 

Light Medium and Heavy are applied by the controller clients not the pilot client, based on aircraft type.

 

C414/L-SDH/C

You cannot file this, it will drop off the extra information and you would only be left with C414/L which would be C414 with RVSM, GNSS and Mode C transponder, if you want to indicate you have VHF ADF VOR and ILS you would file C414/A if non RVSM and /W if RVSM

 

Nothing you can do to change it, its network limitations.

 

To find out what you can and cant use on VATSIM look here https://www.vatsim.net/pilot-resource-centre/general-lessons/choosing-equipment-code

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

also worth noting, ADS-B and Mode S transponder isnt simulated by the pilot clients, so whether an aircraft is/isnt equipped with them is irreverent in our virtual world........ currently