Search

No, American Airlines Isn’t Flying a Piper PA-28 Across the Atlantic

Share this article

American Airlines launched transatlantic service yesterday using a Piper PA-28-201T, or at least that’s what our receivers saw when flight AA755 departed Paris for Philadelphia yesterday. In reality, the issue lies in a miscoded Mode S transponder.

An American Airlines A330 displayed on Flightradar24 as a Piper due to a miscoded Mode S address

What’s in a name?

To track each flight we use an aircraft’s Mode S address (ICAO 24-bit address), usually represented as the ‘Mode S hex code’ on our site and in our apps. This address is unique to an aircraft worldwide. In the case of American’s Piper, a one bit error in the Mode S address turns the Airbus A330-200 registered N284AY into a Piper registered N2837A. Here’s how:

N284AY is assigned hex address A2DCEE, which when entered in binary is 101000101101110011101110.
N2837A is assigned hex address A2DC6E, which when entered in binary is 101000101101110001101110.

Spot the difference? A single bit flip changes the A330 into a Piper.

101000101101110011101110
101000101101110001101110

Air traffic control is using the octal ‘squawk code’ and callsign to control the flight, so an incorrect Mode S address doesn’t have an effect on the flight in this case, but it does it make interesting to watch. As the ADS-B mandate nears, however, the FAA is trying to ensure all transponder codes are accurate.

 

On The Radar Logo

Get the latest aviation news delivered to you

Get the latest aviation news delivered to you

Flight tracking and aviation industry news direct to your inbox

Aviation news comes quickly, so join more than 1.7 million others who receive weekly aviation industry and flight tracking news from Flightradar24 direct to their inbox.

Share this article
Latest threads
Latest video

Most wanted airport receiver locations

We’re always looking for additional receiver hosts in areas that either lack coverage or need additional coverage. Help us grow the Flightradar24 ADS-B network.

Trending articles
On The Radar Logo
Get weekly updates on Flightradar24 and have the latest aviation news land in your inbox.
AvTalk Logo

AvTalk Episode 316: The helicopter in the Hudson

Most wanted airport receiver locations

We’re always looking for additional receiver hosts in areas that either lack coverage or need additional coverage. Help us grow the Flightradar24 ADS-B network.

How flight tracking works

Flightradar24 combines data from several data sources including ADS-B, MLAT and radar data.
Search the blog
Follow us
Latest AvTalk Podcasts
More stories
In April 2010, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, spewing ash high into the atmosphere and wreaking havoc on commercial air traffic in Europe and…
A man with a knife hijacked a Tropicair Cessna Grand Caravan in Belize yesterday. He stabbed three fellow passengers before being shot by another…
An example full flight summary response from the Flightradar24 API: { "data": [ { "fr24_id": "0987654321", "flight": "SK1415", "callsign": "SAS1415", "operated_as": "SAS", "painted_as": "SAS", "type": "A20N", "reg": "SE-DOY", "orig_icao": "ESSA", "orig_iata": "ARN", "datetime_takeoff": "2023-01-27T05:15:22", "runway_takeoff": "12R", "dest_icao": "EKCH", "dest_iata": "CPH", "dest_icao_actual": "EPWA", "dest_iata_actual": "WAW", "datetime_landed": "2023-01-27T06:15:10", "runway_landed": "27L", "flight_time": 3600, "actual_distance": 1007.74, "circle_distance": 6245, "category": "Passenger", "hex": "4A91F9", "first_seen": "2023-01-27T05:06:22", "last_seen": "2023-01-27T06:18:10", "flight_ended": "true" } ] }
Flightradar24’s new and powerful API continues to grow, and the Flight summary API endpoint is our latest addition. Flight summary is our most requested…

Flight tracking top 10 aircraft

Explore the top 10 most tracked aircraft and find out why these particular aircraft draw so much interest.

Help to grow our flight tracking coverage

We are continually looking to improve our flight tracking and the airports below are where new receivers will add the most coverage. Apply for a receiver today and if accepted you’ll receiver a free Flightradar24 Business Subscription.

Free ADS-B Receiver
Flightradar24 logo
Try the full Flightradar24 experience free for 7 days
Remove ads and unlock over 50 additional features
On The Radar Logo

Get the Flightradar24 Aviation newsletter

Flight tracking and aviation industry news direct to your inbox

Aviation news comes quickly, so we want to bring more of the aviation world to you with our weekly Flightradar24 aviation newsletter - On The Radar.

On The Radar Logo