If we look at the distances from the long-range radar sites serving this area, it is obvious, to even the most casual observer, that an aircraft flying at a low-altitude near San Luis Obsipo would not be detected by the long-range radar located in Los Angeles, just over 150 miles away. There was one and only one long-range radar in this scenario that could have possibly detected the aircraft at this low altitude, and that was the radar at nearby Paso Robles. And, in fact, it most certainly did detect both aircraft. The controllers all testified that they observed the Wings West target change from a VFR code 1-2-0-0 "V" target to the controller assigned code target. It made absolutely no sense why the target of the VFR aircraft would not be displayed, especially since there was 7 minutes and 21 seconds of continuously recorded data for that VFR aircraft's transponder reply.
But in looking through the transcripts of the investigation, I never did find where anyone asked about radar sort boxes, and how they were programmed. That made me wonder. From two independent sources I reconstructed how the radar sort boxes fit into this equation...
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