ADS-B: Case studies
What do owners think about their ADS-B?
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 Transportation System. It’s unclear how many aircraft must equip in advance of the mandate, but many owners have already done so. What do some of them think about the equipment they’ve installed, and what was the process like?
2005 American Champion Super Decathlon
As the avionics technical fellow for Bell, Erik Oltheten of Fort Worth, Texas, took a leading role in the helicopter manufacturer’s commitment to meeting the ADS-B mandate. “But talk is cheap when it’s not your money,” he said. “When it came to my personal aircraft, how could I approach 2020 and not be equipped?”
Oltheten owns a 2005 American Champion Super Decathlon that he primarily flies locally, although he uses it for the occasional cross-country, and keeps at Parker County Airport in Weatherford, Texas—just outside the Dallas-Fort Worth Mode C veil. “I spent a long time looking at ADS-B solutions before picking one,” he said. “You have to look at what works for you, your aircraft, and your priorities.”
First, if he had to spend that kind of money, Oltheten wanted tangible benefits. Surprised before by other aircraft, he definitely wanted ADS-B traffic. Second, he wanted a display solution that would work in the Decathlon’s small cockpit. “My already-full panel didn’t allow for many options. I also had to consider something robust enough for the aerobatics I do,” he said.
Oltheten first considered the L3 Lynx NGT-9000 transponder, thinking he needed a panel solution to avoid loose items in the cockpit. But a few experiments with an iPad mini and a RAM mount changed his mind—he said it was sunlight-readable, and the mount was stable in aerobatic flight but could be removed easily. He wanted dual-band ADS-B In to avoid reliance on ground stations, and a 1090ES transponder for the Out would trade weight rather than simply add weight with a remote UAT. And because his existing GPS did not meet ADS-B rule requirements, he needed a solution with built-in WAAS GPS.
Ultimately, his choice was Appareo’s Stratus ESGi system. The ESG transponder easily replaced the existing Garmin GTX 327, and the dual-band ADS-B receiver fit upside-down beneath the glareshield. (The receiver transmits the ADS-B data to the Foreflight app running on his iPad mini.)
Total cost, $2,925 installed. The new equipment cost $3,500, plus $500 for a Part 145 shop to do the installation. Oltheten received the $500 FAA rebate, sold his old transponder for $450, and sold the GPS antenna that came with the Stratus for $125 (he was able to use a WAAS GPS antenna already on the airplane, which also reduced his installation cost).
“The installation was what got me,” he said. Ready to order the NGT-9000, the shop quoted up to 40 hours for the installation cost. “The shop I went to was very busy, and they weren’t familiar with the L3, so they jacked the price up,” he said. He chose another shop for the Stratus installation, and it charged an unusually low rate.
And Oltheten has been happy with his investment. A flight from Florida back to Texas demonstrated benefits from both ADS-B In weather and traffic, as well as the uncertified attitude heading and reference system that supports synthetic vision on ForeFlight.
1966 Cessna T210
Frank Ziegler sold his Cessna Skyhawk in 2012 and acquired a faster 1966 Cessna T210, which he keeps at Grosse Ile Municipal Airport, near Detroit. Although it was reasonably well-equipped for IFR, Ziegler quickly discovered limitations. A GPS approved only for en route navigation limited him to airports with VOR or ILS approaches, and a capable S-Tec autopilot with vertical navigation capabilities was being used only for left/right steering.
“The NDB and VOR approaches are going away. Every time I needed to shoot an approach, I couldn’t do it,” said Ziegler, who decided to invest in WAAS navigation capability in addition to ADS-B Out and In. “I figured instead of piecing this together and doing it hodgepodge, I’d do it all at once. It’s not just about being legal; I need to know where I’m at and I need to be able to do approaches.”
At the 2016 Sun ’n Fun International Fly-In and Expo he researched his options, quickly focusing on the Garmin GTN 750 and Avidyne IFD540. Show specials made their costs, combined with ADS-B Out and In, very similar.
Ziegler downloaded PC simulators for both units and “flew” each for a week. “I wanted to get a look and feel for what it did and how it worked. There’s a learning curve for each,” he explained. “My instrument instructor had a Garmin. I didn’t really care for it. I couldn’t find anything in the menus.” Ultimately he found the Avidyne’s user interface more to his liking.
He also looked at the Aspen Evolution 1000 Pro Primary Flight Display, and learned that one of Aspen’s interface boxes could allow his JPI engine analyzer, which provides fuel quantity information, and autopilot to communicate with the IFD540 and the Aspen PFD. Even better, he found the integration could be done with the less expensive of the two boxes.
Using a photo of his original panel, Ziegler made a detailed list of everything he wanted done, and where each instrument should be installed. He found this helpful in getting comparable quotes from avionics shops.
After waiting two months for his installation, the work took eight weeks and was completed in August 2016. He flew the airplane 19,800 nautical miles in the next year and a half. “You don’t realize how far you fly until you look at the numbers.” Ziegler has flown coupled LNAV/VNAV GPS approaches with the Avidyne; he really likes the ADS-B traffic and weather; and he appreciates the heightened situational awareness. “It may be nice where you’re at, but somewhere along the route there’s going to be convective this or that. You can’t fly a 300-mile flight without the weather changing,” he said. “Between the Avidyne, the iPad, and my phone—if I needed it—I know exactly where I’m at in space all the time.”
The new avionics have saved him time and money. “I’ve got so much utility now, it isn’t funny,” Zeigler said. “My wife was not at all happy when she found out that I could have been ADS-B ‘legal’ for about 15 percent of what I actually spent. But when I explained how just being legal would not make us any safer, gain any utility, or increase the plane’s net value, she started talking to me again.”
Email [email protected]
