Milair Jargon

[CommRX]

Usually, on an ARTCC freq., a pilot will end a transmission with the phrase "with a flash". What is "with a flash"? It is usually the last thing before going to another freq.

All I can think about is in the old movie "Airplane" (1980 for those who remember), when they "flash to pass" another jumbo jet.

 

[CORN]

Military aircraft will use the phrase "with the flash" when they are asked to "squawk" a different transponder code than what they are currently on or when they are asked to ident they will say the same thing. It's basically a fancy term for their transponder since an active transponder has a blinking light on it when the radar waves bounce off of it and it also shows it's working. Around a lot of military bases they will use the term after they takeoff indicating their transponder is working and recieveing properly and they have the correct code.

 

[Finto]

It's saying that they are going to press the IDENT button on the transponder that allows the radar tag on ATC's radar to flash brighter and allows them to pick them out among other targets. It's a jargon answer to ATC's command like "Bash 234 reset transponder and squawk 4634 an ident"

 

[RayAir]

I'm no military pilot, but some of the same principles apply to civilian pilots. The transponder allows ATC to see you on radar with a visual target I.D (plane type), altitude (Mode C transponder function). Once you get ready for departure you set your transponder to "ALT" mode. 1200 is the VFR common squawk. All other types of flight ATC will assign you a squawk code. Many times when you are in a busy area most likely on approach ATC will have you "ident" which distinguishes you on the controllers screen from other radar targets. Since the FAA regulates flight the FAR's are pretty much the same.