Squawking 7700 in an emergencyReserved codes are used in particular situations when an aircraft wants to communicate something to ATC urgently. The most well know of these is the code 7700. This is used to indicate an emergency of any kind.
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7700 is a general emergencysquawk. It tells ATC that there is a problem of some sort with a particular plane.
A Squawk 7700 indicates an emergency. This can be an emergency of any kind. Pilots may input it into the transponder themselves – or when instructed to do so by ATC. As a result, ground control will know that the aircraft is dealing with a serious issue and needs help.
If a crew resets their transponder to the emergency code of 7700 (squawking 7700), all air traffic control facilities in the area are immediately alerted that the aircraft has an emergency situation.
It's not very common these days. Squawk (transponder) is primarily for ATC purposes, and if you're already talking to ATC, there's usually no reason to squawk 7700. Modern radar automation systems give the controller the capability of mimicking a 7700 squawk for an aircraft with a simple keyboard entry.
Famous Squawk codesThese special codes are standardized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), so seeing an emergency code in Denver means the same thing as seeing the code in Delhi. The first of these is the code 7500, which signals “unlawful interference,” more commonly referred to as hijacking.
“Squawk 1234” means to just dial 1234 into your transponder. The ATC radar will show the controller that number in the tag associated with your plane. If the tell you, “squawk 1244 and ident”, you should put in the code first, and then press and release the Ident (or ID) button on the transponder.
Under normal, non-emergency operations, it is important to avoid using the transponder codes of 7500, 7600, and 7700 while switching (aka “cycling”) codes. It is easy to see how a pilot could easily switch to one of these 3 codes on accident.
A note about Estimated coverage: when you see a dashed or gray line behind an aircraft, that's estimated coverage. Colored lines indicate actual positions. When an aircraft is out of coverage, we estimate based on great circle routes to destination.