Radar services, the transponder, and ADS-B
What ATC radar can and cannot see, what a VFR pilot receives from it, how the transponder and ADS-B make the airplane visible, and why none of it relieves the pilot of looking outside.
14 min read · Navigation
After this lesson you can
- Describe primary and secondary surveillance radar and ADS-B, and the limitations of each.
- State what basic radar service gives a VFR aircraft, and what terminal radar service, Class C and Class B add.
- Read a traffic advisory correctly, allowing for the wind correction angle.
- Operate the transponder using standard phraseology and the codes every pilot must know.
- Name the limitations of ATC services and the point where the pilot's own responsibility begins.
- Manage the automated navigation systems and the electronic flight bag as tasks rather than as answers.
A VFR flight can go from engine start to shutdown without a controller ever seeing it. It can also, on request, be followed by radar for the whole route, with traffic called out by clock position and a safety alert if it wanders toward terrain. The difference is a radio call, and the private pilot standards want the pilot to know what that call buys, what it costs, and what it does not do.
This lesson is the radar side of navigation: the ground equipment, the airborne equipment that answers it, the services built on the two, and the limits of all three.
The rest of this lesson
- 1.Radar, the beacon, and ADS-B
- 2.What a VFR pilot receives: basic radar service and beyond
- 3.The transponder: codes and phraseology
- 4.The limitations of ATC services, and where responsibility sits
- 5.Managing the boxes: automation, autoflight, and the electronic flight bag
These 5 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the PPL track. Paid once, yours for good.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.