THE OCCASIONAL USE OF BEACON CODE SUBSET 5200 BY MUHA; MMID; AND HANDLED BY ZMA CAUSES A 'V' TO BE DISPLAYED IN THE DATA BLOCK OF AN ACFT HANDLED BY MIA APCH CTL WHICH INDICATES TO THE CTLR THAT THE ACFT IS VFR WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY IFR.

Date: 1996-02 · Aircraft: Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer

Anomalies: other-unspecified

Synopsis

THE OCCASIONAL USE OF BEACON CODE SUBSET 5200 BY MUHA; MMID; AND HANDLED BY ZMA CAUSES A 'V' TO BE DISPLAYED IN THE DATA BLOCK OF AN ACFT HANDLED BY MIA APCH CTL WHICH INDICATES TO THE CTLR THAT THE ACFT IS VFR WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY IFR.

Narrative

ACFT FLYING FROM MEXICO TO MIA; IFR. MERIDA CTR OR HAVANA CTR ASSIGNS BEACON CODES. NON-RADAR INFO IS PASSED TO ZMA; IE; ALT; FIX; TIME; AND BEACON CODE. OCCASIONALLY; A BEACON CODE IS ASSIGNED OF THE 5200 SUBSET (ACFT CODE IS 52XX). WHEN THESE ACFT ENTER MIAMI APCH AIRSPACE; THE TARGETS APPEAR AS 'VS' AND THE APCH CTLRS ASSUME THAT THE ACFT ARE VFR EVEN IF ON AN IFR CLRNC. THE ONLY PREVENTION IN THIS CHAIN IS THE HOPE (AND DIRECTION) THAT A CTR CTLR WILL REASSIGN A CODE NOT IN THE 5200 SUBSET. NO ONE SHOULD ASSUME VFR WITHOUT SOME OTHER INDICATION. ZMA COMPUTER SHOULD NOT ALLOW ASSIGNMENT OF 5200 SUBSET. MIAMI APCH SHOULD NOT AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME AN ACFT IS VFR WHEN THE CTR PUTS THE ACFT IN AN IFR ARR GATE AT AN IFR ALT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR INDICATED THAT THE CTLRS AT ZMA HAVE BEEN ASKED NOT TO USE BEACON CODE SUBSET 5200. HE STATED THAT MIA APCH USES THE 5200 SUBSET FOR SPECIFIC ACFT OPS AND THAT THERE IS AN ATTEMPT TO FIND AND USE ANOTHER BEACON SUBSET IN LIEU OF THE 5200 SUBSET. RPTR STATED HE CAUGHT AND CHANGED THE CODE OF AN ACFT USING THE 5200 SUBSET TODAY. RPTR ALSO STATED HE HAS FILED A UCR ON THE 5200 SUBSET PROB.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.