Air carrier captain reported not recognizing until cruise that the transponder was set incorrectly. ...

Attributes
ACN	1743844
Time
Date	202005
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Transponder
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

Narrative:

During the second half of our flight from ZZZ to ZZZ1 while in the cruise portion of the flight; the first officer pointed out the transponder was still in altitude on and not TA/RA. We switched it to TA/RA and continued the flight. My mistake for not visually confirming during the 'before takeoff' flow and checklist and my recommendation is to remind crews to really take their time and visually identify items are completed because a lot of us are going weeks or might go a month or longer without flying since covid lessened our customers desire to travel. Best case I would recommend rotating people through scheduled trips to try to get people to fly at least every other week to maintain everyone's proficiency; but I understand that may be a tough wish.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported not recognizing until cruise that the transponder was set incorrectly. Captain recommended that crews visually confirm checklist items since many pilots are flying infrequently due to COVID-19 reductions in travel demands.

Narrative: During the second half of our flight from ZZZ to ZZZ1 while in the cruise portion of the flight; the FO pointed out the transponder was still in ALT On and not TA/RA. We switched it to TA/RA and continued the flight. My mistake for not visually confirming during the 'Before Takeoff' Flow and Checklist and my recommendation is to remind crews to really take their time and visually identify items are completed because a lot of us are going weeks or might go a month or longer without flying since COVID lessened our customers desire to travel. Best case I would recommend rotating people through scheduled trips to try to get people to fly at least every other week to maintain everyone's proficiency; but I understand that may be a tough wish.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Air carrier captain reported not recognizing until cruise that the transponder was set incorrectly. Captain recommended that crews visually confirm checklist items since many pilots are flying infrequently due to covid-19 reductions in travel demands.