What Am I: Always listening

Every instructor loves to play the “Which antenna is this?” game with students. But with so many sprinkled around the airplane, the game is getting harder to win.

A modern Boeing 787 has more than 20 antennas, for functions as simple as a communications radio or as complex as airborne weather radar. Thankfully, general aviation airplanes are simpler machines that require only a few antennas to perform all the electronic communication and navigation tasks our high-tech avionics require.

Older airplanes with a communications and navigation radio, a transponder, and an emergency locator transmitter make antenna-spotting easy. You look for the tall fin of the communication antenna, the V-shape antenna of the navigation radio (usually on the tail), the short and solid transponder antenna on the belly, and the small, floppy emergency locator transmitter antenna directly above the box that is mounted behind the baggage area.

Integrated avionics such as the Garmin G1000 bring more capabilities, which means more antennas. You’ll definitely have a GPS antenna that looks like an elongated hockey puck on the top of the cabin, and you might also add on weather datalink, an active traffic system, and more.

Until you get to the world of fast piston aircraft or turbines that include on-board weather radar, antennas are generally passive appendages that don’t require much maintenance. Check their security during preflight, the condition of the paint, and any weather sealant around the base. Like flaking caulk in a shower, missing sealant could allow water to enter the cabin under the antenna, eventually causing damage.