Ident button on the yoke

[AirBadger]

I'm pretty sure I've read that in single pilot turbine airplanes (ie CJ1s) its required that there be an ident button on the yoke, is this true, and why is it?

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

I'm pretty sure I've read that in single pilot turbine airplanes (ie CJ1s) its required that there be an ident button on the yoke, is this true, and why is it?

You are correct, required for sp status.

Why? I guess they figure it is one less time you have to remove your hand from the yoke.

There are several sp items like that for certification. I was told by the cessna guys back in my corp days that the Excel was originally designed to be SP capable like the 500 series but that the FAA deemed that it was too hard to see the wingtip on the right wing from the left seat, so that is why there is no SP waiver avalible for it.

 

[P-Dawg_QX]

The ident button on the yoke (at least on a two-pilot airplane) drives me nuts. It doesn't need to be there!!! Why, you ask? Well, the nonflying pilot, the one who is going to respond to the ident request, doesn't have their hand on the yoke. So why reach out for your yoke (and annoy the flying pilot) to press ident when you can just as easily press the button on the transponder itself? Sure, if I'm handflying and I hear an ident request, I'll just hit the button to save the nonflying pilot the trouble, but if you're busy flying a crazy departure procedure, you're not exactly paying attention to that stuff.

Okay, rant over.

 

[Say Again Over]

What's a yoke?

 

[FlyFlyFly]

It is the yellow part of an egg, of course!

 

[Diesel]

Cessna in their wisdom to use the same parts from one plane to another put an ident button on the X.

 

[FN FAL]

We have them on the Caravans that were set up for CATII. Since those are sparsely on duty within the fleet, I usually never know it's there until after I have pushed the ident button on the Txpdr unit itself.

Why don't they put all the buttons on the yoke, if the rare need to ident is going to send a single pilot aircraft spiraling out of control?

Put little coolie hats on the yoke for rudder and aileron trim, put some rotating thumbwheels for power levers up on the right side of the yoke's horns. Put a red button next to it for fuel conditioning levers. Put another set of rotating thumbwheels in blue, for conditioning and feathering the props. Put a little LCD screen in the middle of the yoke for displaying your engine and prop displays or for playing music videos.

 

[User546]

Well, the nonflying pilot, the one who is going to respond to the ident request, doesn't have their hand on the yoke. So why reach out for your yoke (and annoy the flying pilot)...

I think you're all making too big of a deal about the Ident button on the yoke! The whole process is not that big of a life-changing affair.

Typically what we do is if ATC calls for an Ident, the PF who is hand-flying will simply move his finger over and hit Ident button on the yoke. Ident done, problem solved. Just because your the PNF, doesn't mean the PF can't do a minor little thing like that. That way it saves you from reaching up and handling the yoke while the other guys flying it.

 

[Groundpounder]

Why do I have an ident button on my side of the cockpit of a Citation 2? Flying single pilot from the right seat? lol

 

[FN FAL]

Why do I have an ident button on my side of the cockpit of a Citation 2? Flying single pilot from the right seat? lol

What's the matter, can't an FO have at least one button to call his own?

That kind of reminds me of that Eddie Murphy shtick he does on his stand up act, where he gets out of a cab and the sky cap asks him if the luggage is HIS.

Eddie Murphy goes off on the skycap with, "What's the matter, can't a black man own a suitcase?"

 

[Learsforsale]

I think you're all making too big of a deal about the Ident button on the yoke! The whole process is not that big of a life-changing affair.

Typically what we do is if ATC calls for an Ident, the PF who is hand-flying will simply move his finger over and hit Ident button on the yoke. Ident done, problem solved. Just because your the PNF, doesn't mean the PF can't do a minor little thing like that. That way it saves you from reaching up and handling the yoke while the other guys flying it.

For some reason the PA28A that I used to teach in had one on the yoke (i think the new 172 did too) it was always fun to watch a student wonder why ATC is not listening to him and watching him hit the ident switch instead of the PTT switch. But I think having the IDENT button on the yoke is better then putting it right above the VFR button on the Garmin 327. It always makes me nervous when I see a student reaching for the IDENT button in a little turbulence, just one slip and we are squawking 1200, in the BAL/WASH ADIZ BTW

 

[A Squared]

I'll have to admit, I'm scratching my head about this one. I can see the logic in having a yoke mounted button in a single pilot a/c for someting you use frequently....but an Ident Button? Do you guys flying in the more populated part of the country get asked to ident frequently? I think I get an ident request maaaaybe once every couple of months. It's not that much of a workload. I coule think of a couple of much more frequently used buttons which would better candidates for youke mounting.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

I'll have to admit, I'm scratching my head about this one. I can see the logic in having a yoke mounted button in a single pilot a/c for someting you use frequently....but an Ident Button? Do you guys flying in the more populated part of the country get asked to ident frequently? I think I get an ident request maaaaybe once every couple of months. It's not that much of a workload. I coule think of a couple of much more frequently used buttons which would better candidates for youke mounting.

If you are trying to figure out the FAA's thought process, you have a lot more time on your hands than I do!!

I gave up when I saw the scruffy looking janitor with a huge plastic trash can that was big enough to house a small nuke go in the "Secure door" with just a wave of his id while I waited in line in full uniform to get my nail clippers taken away and a full body frisk!!

 

[Beechjetr]

i swear, the only time we get asked to IDENT is at night. The "ident" button on the yoke isn't lit, so it's easier to use the one on the rtu.

 

[User546]

I'll have to admit, I'm scratching my head about this one... Do you guys flying in the more populated part of the country get asked to ident frequently?

We're actually do it fairly often. We take off out of a lot of uncontrolled fields and pick up our clearance in the air. First thing the controller wants you to do is squawk a code and Ident for them.

 

[Vastly Underemp]

My girlfriend had to install a few ident buttons, said I needed recurrent....

 

[MrPink1911]

Ha, one time i was repeatedly mashing the yoke mounted ident button and wondering to myself why i couldn't get the map light to turn off.... i figured out what the trouble was when ATC guy asked me why I kept identing..... one of my many many less enlightened moments as a pilot.....