Originally Posted by
Panthertamer79
They (ATC) should have a pretty good idea where that jet plopped down from the M3/C track (always squawking in civil airspace) until it dropped below radar coverage, which is probably less than 1K AGL in that flat swampy area North of Charleston where he/she punched out. The NAS’s ability to solely skin-track any aircraft, let alone an F-35, is severely hampered without the “woobie” of IFF tracking.
I've forgotten a lot about IFF, M3 has an azimuth component but does it also do range via dopler? Or does that rely on the primary return?
But either way, I assume ATC has some data. And it probably leads to a lake.
Interestingly, there are a gazillion lakes in the Sierra Nevadas, and more than a couple WW-II aircraft have been found at the bottom of them due to all of the training done in CA during that era.