When an aircraft is built, what is assigned to it?

When an aircraft is built, what is assigned to it?

• A. Transponder code
• B. Airport code
• C. Flight number
• D. SELCAL code

Answer: (D)

SELCAL is the code assigned to an aircraft to enable selective alerting of its cockpit on long-range radio calls. When an aircraft is built and registered, this SELCAL code is allocated to it and stays associated with that airframe, so ground stations can alert that specific airplane without interrupting others on the same frequency. A transponder code (squawk) is assigned per flight to identify the aircraft on radar and can change with each flight. A flight number is a scheduling identifier for a particular trip, not a fixed code tied to the aircraft itself. An airport code identifies a location, not the airplane. So the code assigned at construction time to the aircraft is the SELCAL code.

SELCAL is the code assigned to an aircraft to enable selective alerting of its cockpit on long-range radio calls. When an aircraft is built and registered, this SELCAL code is allocated to it and stays associated with that airframe, so ground stations can alert that specific airplane without interrupting others on the same frequency.

A transponder code (squawk) is assigned per flight to identify the aircraft on radar and can change with each flight. A flight number is a scheduling identifier for a particular trip, not a fixed code tied to the aircraft itself. An airport code identifies a location, not the airplane. So the code assigned at construction time to the aircraft is the SELCAL code.