Death, taxes, and the 2020 mandate
What’s required with the ADS-B mandate
By Dave Hubner
As Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, we can count on two things for certain in life: death and taxes. Now pilots can add the 2020 ADS-B mandate to that list.
Beginning January 1, 2020, pilots who want to fly in the airspace listed below will be required to do so with an aircraft equipped with an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out transponder.
- Class A, B, and C airspace.
- Class E airspace at or above 10,000 feet msl, excluding airspace at and below 2,500 feet agl.
- Within 30 nautical miles of a Class B primary airport (the Mode C veil).
- Above the ceiling and within the lateral boundaries of Class B or Class C airspace up to 10,000 feet.
- Class E airspace over the Gulf of Mexico, at and above 3,000 feet msl, within 12 nautical miles of the U.S. coast.
While ADS-B Out is a requirement, once a pilot has met the mandate, the ADS-B In services, traffic in and weather, are a choice—not an FAA requirement.
The 2020 mandate does not require a pilot to use ADS-B In traffic in or weather. When it comes to selecting an inflight weather service, pilots are free to choose SiriusXM, ADS-B, both, or neither.
With the January 1 deadline fast approaching and this unique time in our airspace, it may be worth spending a few minutes during your student’s next lesson to educate students on their requirements to meet the 2020 mandate.
- Aircraft must be equipped with ADS-B Out by January 1, 2020, to fly in the previously mentioned airspace.
- Pilots are not required to use ADS-B In—traffic or weather.
- Pilots are free to choose SiriusXM, ADS-B, both, or neither weather service.
With these choices, the question becomes which weather service is the right one for your flight school and students. The AOPA Air Safety Institute recently released the video ADS-B or SiriusXM, What’s Right for You to educate pilots on the differences between the services, so they may make an informed decision when selecting their inflight weather service.
While the ADS-B mandate is inevitable, some advantages will come from it. It is also important for pilots to know what they are required to do and not do to continue flying in 2020 and beyond.
Dave Hubner is with SiriusXM Aviation Services.
