Close Contact of the Second Level
... reconnaissance plane was flying with its transponder turned off. The transponder is a radio transmitter that broadcasts the aircraft call signs and its flight parameters in response to a secondary radar signal – a method on which all modern civil aviation traffic control is based. This is spiced up by the fact that the western countries regularly accuse the Russian air force of reconnaissance aircraft flying with their transponders turned off. www.flickr.com/people/26145997@N05/ RC-135U Combat ...