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Originally Posted by rugby
1. Where are these transponders located? Could a single event cause decompression and damage to the transponders at the same time? What about other radio systems? Are they all in the same place? Do they use any of the same components?
The transponders are located in the equipment bay which is below the cockpit in a 767 (probably the same on a 777). The control for the transponder is on the center console between the pilots. All electronics (incl radios) are in that area. Same components? I don't understand what you mean. They are all separate pieces of electronic equipment.
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2. How does autopilot work? Someone mentions something about altitude being programmed in separately?
I discussed that earlier itt. Yes, altitude can be "programmed in", but you can only go one way without pilot intervention (i.e. You could descend but couldn't "program" it to climb later.)
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I.e. Pilots manually set course for return airport, set autopilot direction, lower altitude to a safe pressure, something goes wrong, they go back onto autopilot and the autopilot takes them back up to original height where they all die.
Impossible scenario.