A B757 crew and dispatcher report a transponder dead zone at the intersection of taxiway A10 and alp...

Narrative:

On taxi-out (taxiway A10/a intersection) we received the EICAS message 'ATC fault' and confirmed it with the ATC fail light on the IFF mode control panel; as well as the 'TCAS fail' message on the HSI. The manual refers to it as a 'pilot awareness item' we recycled; and it did not clear. We ran the TCAS test; and it failed. We asked tower if they had a positive transponder from us. They replied that they did not; but their ground capability was very limited. We then called dispatch and maintenance. Dispatch reported two other incidents from B757 aircraft at same location. Dispatch reported once airborne; the transponders worked normally. We made the decision to takeoff; and sure enough; at 500 ft AGL; the transponder error messages cleared and everything came back to normal. The transponder remained working throughout the entire flight. There is much construction at smf; this may be causing a 'dead zone' for our 757 transponders. Suggest a NOTAM to alleviate this problem; as it cost us time; wasted valuable gas; and resulted in additional aircraft movement on the airfield to stay clear of runways and other aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 crew and dispatcher report a transponder dead zone at the intersection of Taxiway A10 and Alpha . The transponder failure alert disappeared when climbing out of 500' after takeoff.

Narrative: On taxi-out (taxiway A10/A intersection) we received the EICAS message 'ATC Fault' and confirmed it with the ATC Fail Light on the IFF Mode Control Panel; as well as the 'TCAS Fail' message on the HSI. The manual refers to it as a 'pilot awareness item' We recycled; and it did not clear. We ran the TCAS test; and it failed. We asked tower if they had a positive transponder from us. They replied that they did not; but their ground capability was very limited. We then called Dispatch and Maintenance. Dispatch reported TWO other incidents from B757 aircraft at same location. Dispatch reported once airborne; the transponders worked normally. We made the decision to takeoff; and sure enough; at 500 FT AGL; the transponder error messages cleared and everything came back to normal. The transponder remained working throughout the entire flight. There is much construction at SMF; this may be causing a 'dead zone' for our 757 transponders. Suggest a NOTAM to alleviate this problem; as it cost us time; wasted valuable gas; and resulted in additional aircraft movement on the airfield to stay clear of runways and other aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	864941
Time
Date	200912
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	SMF.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Transponder
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90 Flight Crew Total 12000 Flight Crew Type 7150
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 14000 Flight Crew Type 3500
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

A B757 crew and dispatcher report a transponder dead zone at the intersection of taxiway A10 and alpha . The transponder failure alert disappeared when climbing out of 500' after takeoff.