Transponder inop for months (Alaska)?

[JimNtexas]

I was recently in Alaska and took a sightseeing flight from Fairbanks to Coldfoot on a Navajo.

The pilot was young, had spikey blonde hair and an iPod. But he seemed very competent and I never had any worries that we might not get there and back.

The Navajo was in good order except for one glaring thing. The transponder was removed and according to the 'inop' sticker didn't need to be replaced until September.

What's up with that? Is it some kind of Alaska thing or is it in general possible to sell tickets on a non-transponder airplane for months at a time?

I'm not criticizing the pilot or operator, I'm just wondering how this is possible. I know there isn't much radar up there, but geeze the bigger faster airplanes probably have TCAS even in Alaska. Certainly from what I saw nobody is shy about flying in marginal VFR up there.

It's not like a transponder costs a mint by airplane standards.

 

[jbDC9]

It's not like a transponder costs a mint by airplane standards.

No kidding; your pic shows a Garmin 430/530 combo in the panel, and those two boxes aren't cheap. Seems kinda silly that they can't cough up 800 bucks for a serviceable used unit to plug the hole.

 

[treefifeniner]

I was always curious about this as well. I've been to southeast AK on a few occasions and flew as a passenger aboard a caravan and a 206. Both of those pilots never even turned their transponders on. (Flew out of JNU). But at least they had transponders.

 

[avbug]

The sticker shows a Category D MEL item; it's a deferred maintenance item, given 120 days. Does that mean they'll be flying it like that for 120 days? No. But when a DMI sticker is put on place of the inoperative item, the effective dates need to be recorded, and are.

You folks assume too much.

What value is a transponder when there's nobody to see the reply? This is exactly the case in much of Alaska. Think about it. They're engaging in a legal operation authorized by their MEL and OpSpecs. It's not simply an arbitrary, haphazard decision.

You didn't happen to see a DMI sticker on the pilot's original-issue, Mark 1, see-and-avoid eyeballs, did you?

 

[JimNtexas]

A little thin skinned are we?

I never doubted that they were legal to fly, and I explicitly stated that 'I'm not criticizing the pilot or operator'.

I just wanted some clarification about the rules for this kind of thing. Thanks for providing that.

 

[Rally]

I think the real interesting thing is a a HO doing 200 knots over the ground. What did it have a 100 knot tailwind?

 

[FlyFlyFly]

Does the aircraft have ADS-B onboard?

 

[Kaudbron]

They should didn't they all get it for free or for a greatly reduced price.....in Alaska they call it Project Capstone
I heard stories of guys using it for holding in IMC and just using the MX20 display for traffic awareness on a VFR clearence.... could be just a story though

 

[drinkduff77]

I think the real interesting thing is a a HO doing 200 knots over the ground. What did it have a 100 knot tailwind?

??

The ho's I flew cruised at 185 kts. Although looking at the fuel flows in those pics he's probably descending with the power pulled back, which isn't very good practice.

 

[JimNtexas]

Does the aircraft have ADS-B onboard?

No, I asked about that. Both the flights I took, one from Fairbanks and one from Anchorage said the same thing, that ADS-B did not go to Anchorage or Fairbanks because 'we didn't kill enough of our passengers'.