Catching a Curveball

It’s the curveballs that can set you back. The annual that cost twice what you thought it would. The analog instrument that is too old to be repaired. The dreaded airworthiness directive that basically requires you to disassemble the airplane. If you get too many curveballs, it could cause you to shrug and say, “Time to find a cheaper hobby.”

I wasn’t thrilled with the FAA’s decision to mandate Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out (ADS-B Out) equipage by 2020 in all airplanes that fly where a transponder is now required. A few optimistic pilots hoped the FAA might change its stance, and I confess I was one of them. When it became apparent that the FAA wasn’t going to back down, I waited to see how the market would respond.

The avionics industry stepped up with a variety of boxes, and I researched as many as possible at the airshows such as EAA AirVenture and Sun ’n Fun. I’d have liked to have seen something for less than $1,000, but I guess that’s a pipe dream—at least for people who fly certified aircraft.

The FAA’s $500 rebate offer (www.faa.gov/nextgen/equipadsb/rebate) helped to make up my mind and propel me forward. Reports were coming in that avionics shops were starting to push out their ADS-B installations months into the future, and I didn’t want to let this slide into 2018—which, given my tendency to procrastinate, could quickly become 2019. In giving me five years to meet the mandate, perhaps the FAA knows me a little better than I thought.

Torn between the Appareo transmitter bundled with a Stratus portable receiver and the Garmin 345, I chose the Garmin unit. The Stratus is a great tool; my first-generation receiver has more than proved its value. But it’s one more object to monitor in a cockpit that can get a little cluttered, so the Garmin won out.

Next I contacted my avionics shop to set up an appointment. Of course, whenever avionics come into play, there’s always some additional decision making. Did I want to swap out the Garmin 430 for a Garmin 650 touchscreen GPS? (Sure, but my wallet wouldn’t allow it.) Did I want to upgrade the Garmin 430 to Wide Area Augmentation System capability? (Since I am out of instrument currency more often than I am instrument-current, no thank you on that score as well.)

With an installation date in hand, I jumped on the FAA’s website to sign up for the rebate, and dropped off the airplane at the end of December.

All that remained to collect the $500 rebate was a test flight with a series of maneuvers in rule airspace. Thanks to advice from a colleague who has been living and breathing ADS-B for the past two years, and another colleague who had already equipped his Piper Arrow, I had no issues with the test flight, and the check arrived in the mail a few weeks later.

A few months into ADS-B, I’m learning to appreciate it. The Garmin unit displays traffic and weather on ForeFlight on my iPad. It also gives audio alerts (“Traffic! Ten o’clock”) that were a little unnerving at first.

I use my eyes as a primary traffic spotter. I treat the iPad like a nervous right-seater who points at everything in the sky. I do love having onboard weather, but it’s important to remember that the reports are not real time, and I should not allow myself to get lulled into a sense of complacency where weather is concerned (see “Advanced Pilot: Late-ncy,” p. 50).

The FAA’s ADS-B mandate was a curveball, but it wasn’t enough to make me consider giving up flying. I did swear I’d not spend another cent on anything other than planned maintenance. That pledge lasted until April—Sun ’n Fun, to be precise—when I invested in a set of replacement windows. Perhaps I’d better sit out the next big airshow.