"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm curious how important it really is to punch in 1200 as soon as the
controller instructs squawk 1200 as you approach for landing at an
uncontrolled field. I've always blown it off and just landed with my
original code. My thinking is 1) Of the things I need to do to
configure for landing, watch for traffic, get the plane slowed down,
etc this is way, way down on my important to-do list 2) What the heck
can ATC care anyway, are they going to reuse that code in the next 2
minutes 3) If something did happen to me, maybe they'd have a better
radar track if I'm still on the old code??

Im just curious from controllers how important is this change in code
before landing.

-Robert, CFI


Robert,

If you don't go 1200 for some time and they really want you to they will
tell you so! I understand about some times being to busy with other things
that are going on that prohibit the task of squawking 1200 for a few min.
The new digital transponders with the one touch VFR button is awesome.