Page 2 - Squawk Code News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> the captain boosts the massive engines. the plane roars into the sky. its altimeter tracking its climb through 5,000 feet, then 10,000 feet. now airborne, air traffic ro controllers pick up the flight. >> they're going to see you on their radar because you have a squawk code in your transponder which basically turns your simple radar return into something that has a lot of information on it. it includes the flight number and the speed and the altitude. >> coming up to 17,000 feet. >> this is malaysia here. and this is vietnam here. there's cambodia on the left side. >> as the plane reaches ...

Tracking its climb through 5,000 feet, then 10,000 feet. now airborne, air traffic controllers pick up the flight. >> they're going to see you on their radar because you have a squawk code in your transponder which turns your simple radar return into something that has a lot of information on it. it includes the flight number and the speed and the altitude. >> coming up to 17,000 feet. >> this is malaysia here. this is vietnam here. there's cambodia on the left side. >> as the plane reaches its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, the pilots can relax a little. so can the passengers like paul wee...

>> reporter: the captain booss s the massive engines. the plane roars into the sky. its altimeter tracking the time through 5,000 feet and then 10,000 feet, and then airborne, the air traffic controllers pick up the flight. >> they will see you on the radar, because you have a squawk code in the transponder which is going to turn the simple radar return into something that has a lot of information on it. it includes the flight number and the speend the altitude. >> coming up to 17,000 feet. >> this is malaysia here, and this is vietnam here. this is cambodia on the left side. >> reporter: as t...

I'm flying vfr. anybody who flies visual flight rules, if you want to use a transponder you squawk 1200. . a squawk code will be there. you will be told by the controller go to 0466. that's for radar identification and location. okay? who the plane is, where the plane is as far as altitude is concerned. above 18,000 feet -- and that's where this commercial flight was flying -- you have to have two of these. it's regulation. you're going to tell me both of they will malfunctioned? both of them happened to be turned off? somebody turned these off. that leads us to believe the plane was clearly m...

Does it read like a deliberate turn? >> it looks like a deliberate turn, the question is whether the pilot did it or someone else? i fly flight simulators on my mack and change the heading in a matter of seconds. you dial it in the heading and sul you'll see the magnetic arc -- >> that is so nerdy and impressive. >> i can go major aviation geek on you. i'll spare you that. the point is in flight it doesn't take a lot to change direction of the aircraft. >> and it's a sharp turn like that. it could have been some sudden change in circumstances that triggered that? >> it could have been an intru...