ADS-B: Is it time to buy?

ADS-B uses satellites instead of ground-based radar to determine aircraft location, and is a key technology behind the FAA’s Next Generation Air Traffic Control System. The FAA has mandated ADS-B Out beginning January 1, 2020, for flight in airspace where a transponder is required today. For most GA aircraft owners, the greatest benefits accrue from enhanced situational awareness afforded by optional ADS-B In services—specifically, traffic information and subscription-free weather.

AOPA’s ADS-B panel discussions at AirVenture drew appreciably larger crowds than in the past year. And an unscientific poll of the audience—almost all aircraft owners—showed that most are getting serious about learning their ADS-B equipage options. Many indicated that they would like to equip in 2017 or 2018, but some planned to wait until 2019.

ADS-B manufacturers appeared to have a steady stream of potential customers during the show. Some were motivated by the FAA’s $500 rebate for the installation of certified avionics into single-engine piston aircraft, for which reservations are expected to become available beginning sometime in September—and others were not. A number of ADS-B manufacturers were offering “bridge” rebates in advance of the FAA rebate, and some held drawings for free hardware during the show.

“I’m going to have to equip. I’m not optional,” said Todd Quesnel of Houston, who needs to equip both his Beechcraft Bonanza V35B and de Havilland DHC–1 Chipmunk. The FAA rebate is driving his timing, he said. “If the government is going to give me $500, I’d want to take advantage of it.”

Peter Corry of Hot Springs, Arkansas, is not motivated by the FAA rebate—or concerns about scheduling an ADS-B installation before the mandate takes effect. “I’m just starting to think about it,” said Corry, who owns a Cessna 421. “I’m still looking.”

Leonard Framalin of Pontiac, Michigan, wants to equip sooner rather than later. “I want to get it done by next year, at the latest,” he said. Framalin owns both a Cessna 421 and a Beechcraft Bonanza—and both already have ADS-B-compliant WAAS GPS receivers. One has a Garmin GTX 330 transponder. “If I upgrade that, it will be easy” to get ADS-B Out for that airplane, he said.

The FAA had a large NextGen display in its pavilion and employees on hand to answer questions. It distributed a publication explaining the FAA’s $500 ADS-B Out equipage rebate and extols the benefits available to GA pilots from ADS-B.

There are steps an aircraft owner can take before rebate installations become available, said Alejandro Rodriguez, an aerospace engineer for the FAA’s Avionics Systems Branch. “Talk to your manufacturers. How do you want to equip? Do you need [ADS-B-compliant] GPS? Do you want to go 978 or Mode S?” You’ll need to enter the position source and the ADS-B hardware when you apply for the rebate, he added.

The rebate application requires entry of the scheduled installation date, which can be no more than 90 days out. The owner has 60 days to fly the airplane in airspace with ADS-B coverage to validate the rebate. More information on the rebate is available online.

Additional ADS-B benefits

Flight Information Services-Broadcast (FIS-B, the ADS-B In service that provides subscription-free aviation weather information to the cockpits of equipped aircraft) will be gaining some new features soon, said Rune Duke, AOPA director of government affairs for airspace and air traffic. “There are five new FIS-B products coming out next year. That includes lightning strikes; you’re going to have icing; you’re going to have ceilings; echo tops—so you know where the tops are—and one-minute AWOS updates.”

GA pilots equipped with ADS-B Out are experiencing better service at many nontowered airports, Duke added. “When you fly into certain airports, they’re going to hold you—or hold you on the ground—because that other airplane hasn’t canceled [its IFR flight plan]. Now the controllers can see you, and they can keep that traffic moving.”

Aircraft with WAAS GPS navigation capabilities can access more than 4,200 WAAS-enabled instrument approach procedures at U.S. airports; nearly 80,000 GA aircraft are equipped to fly those approaches, according to the FAA.

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See AOPA’s online ADS-B resources and ADS-B selection tool.