Airline pilot explains meaning behind three 'secret codes' you never want crew to use on your flight
Being afraid of flying is a common occurrence, so it might not help you to know these ‘secret codes’ which are only used when something has gone wrong onboard.
When it comes to codes, usually it’s something you think about staff using to talk about an unruly passenger, to talk about the status of the journey, or to update each other on tasks or stock.
But pilots use them too.
In a new video posted by a YouTuber and pilot known as @BoeingBoy online and Tapish in real life, he reveals exactly what they mean, and one of them is the most terrifying of all.
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According to his page, he is ‘currently a Senior Captain on B737’ and former Captain of the ‘A320’ model.
He explained that when it comes to piloting a jet, you’ve got your ways of discreetly letting Air Traffic Control (ATC) on the ground know what’s going on when you’re up in the air.
Especially when it’s things that are catastrophic to the safety of all on board.
He explained the three main things in his video.
“Pilots have secret codes for when we cannot communicate with the ATC or we want the ATC to know about something going wrong on the aircraft but we have no way of communicating,” he began.
However, he explained they ‘have some secret codes that we can dial in on the aircraft and the ATC automatically knows what is happening’.
Known as ‘squawk codes’, he revealed that they are 'used on a daily basis’, but there are 'a few certain score codes which are specific to certain emergencies or certain urgencies’.
"So, there are three of them: 7500, 7600 and 7700.If you're in aviation, I'm very sure you already know of this, but if you're not aviation, this is news to you,” the pilot began, noting they pertain to the safety of all on board.
He said: “The secret codes are entered on the aircraft and they tell the ATC that something is wrong with this aircraft. So, 7500 is whenever there's a hijack, we use 7600 whenever we have a communication failure and we are unable to talk to the ATC, and 7700 is used in case of emergencies on the aircraft.”
While it’s helpful to know this stuff, I also really wish I could be blissfully unaware of these codes in the case they’re ever called out when I’m in the air.
Well, this only pertains to 7500 or 7700. I’m cool with a communication breakdown if those are the three options to choose from.
Anyway, the pilot revealed 'there's a panel on the aircraft and on that panel, we dial in the code, and the code is transmitted to the ATC, and the ATC gets to know what is up.”
From there, they can guide the pilot.
As a passenger, you can’t really do anything about this, and if it’s just the pilot handling the codes, chances are you’ll never know what’s going on.
Small graces.
Britt Jones