Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Aviation
Flights
Flights depart from a gate
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Flights depart within a few hours of the time they were scheduled to
Flights depart
within a day of the time they were scheduled to
Flights have schedules
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Airplanes (excluding helicopters) take off and land at airports
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Flights are identified by a flight number consisting of an airline's code plus some numbers, like UAL1234
Flights
are identified by either an airline flight number like UAL1234, or the aircraft's registration like N12345, B6459, or FHUVL
A flight identifier like B6459 is unambiguously either a registration (
B--6459), an airline flight number (
B6 459), or something else
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Flights with multiple flight numbers unambiguously have one “main” flight number
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Flights don't use the code of some entirely unrelated airline in their flight identifier
No flights use the same flight number within a day
Surely at least no flights use the same flight number at the same time?
Okay fine, separate flights from the same major passenger airline that depart within a few minutes of each other would not
both have the
same flight number… right?
Airports
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Terminal and gate numbers have a consistent naming scheme
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Airports always have two unique identifiers: a 4-letter Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) code and a 3-letter International Air Transport Association (IATA) code
Airports always have three unique identifiers: an ICAO, an IATA, and a regionally-administered location code
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Airports have at least one well-known identifier of some sort
Airlines
Navigation
Waypoint names are unique
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Flight information from Air Navigation Service Providers is accurate
Okay, /pretty/ accurate; they wouldn't indicate that a flight had departed unless it really had
If they indicate that a flight plan has been cancelled, then that flight definitely isn't going to operate — it wouldn't simply be due to someone editing the flight plan
At least their radar data accurately identifies each aircraft
Radars with overlapping coverage areas agree on the location of a target they can both see
If they send us a flight plan with the ICAO identifier of a known airport as the destination, then there must have been some intention of arriving there
If an aircraft diverts to another destination, it won't
divert again
Transponders and ADS-B
ADS-B messages only come from aircraft
ADS-B messages only come from aircraft and airport service vehicles
ADS-B messages only come from vehicles of some kind
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ADS-B messages always include the correct flight identification
Transponders are correctly programmed to indicate the aircraft type (helicopter, airplane, balloon, etc)
You can always determine a aircraft's registration number from its ADS-B messages
Transponders are programmed with the correct Mode S address
All of the transponders on a single aircraft are programmed with the same Mode S address
Nobody will ever set their flight identification to weird things like NULL
People will remember to update the transponder when the aircraft's registration changes
ADS-B messages are always received exactly as they were transmitted
No one ever transmits false ADS-B messages
Transponders never break and rodents never chew through cables