An FAA memorandum is causing severe turbulence for the early implementation of ADS-B equipment. The Aug. 30 memo mandates that all ADS-B equipment must be installed via a supplemental type certificate (STC).
In the memo, FAA officials state: “The FAA feels that TC, ATC or STC design approval is more appropriate to ensure consistent performance. It is expected that as both the FAA and the industry gain experience on these initial installations, that the FAA will allow other approvals, including field approvals.”
In a letter sent Oct. 4 to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, the Aircraft Electronics Association points out the unintended consequence of this action, and states the policy likely will kill not only early implementation, but also any innovation and new products that were expected to be brought to market to provide low-cost solutions for general aviation aircraft.
The policy specifically addresses the installation of products that meet TSO-C166 Revision “B” or TSO-C154 Revision “C.” This policy does not apply to Mode S transponder products that were certified to earlier revision levels of these TSOs.
AEA officials say they continue to work directly with the FAA concerning this issue, but notes that the association “cannot encourage or support the early implementation of ADS-B technology until this flawed policy has been resolved.”
This article is yet further proof that for 16 years (beginning in January 1993), previous FAA Administrators were incompetent and unqualified to lead the FAA, because they were appointed for their political patronage, sex, race and social philosophy and not because they possessed any skill, acumen or experience in the aviation industry! To make matters worse, they hired “like ilk” as mid and high-level managers, to set policy, establish rulemaking and run the agency, with disastrous results, now being contended with by those at all levels in the aviation industry!
The “most horrendous and egregious” shortcomings of the agency during those years, was the operation of the ATC system! Billions of dollars wasted (flushed down the toilet of “sloth and incompetence”) on poorly thought-out technologic advances that never materialized, thus seriously delaying the upgrading of a now antiquated system, to the detriment of all who were expected to manage and operate it in the field and those who used the system. I won’t even broach the subject of the complete mismanagement of the FAA ATC personnel system that was once the “pinnacle” of the federal system and completely decimating it! That has left us with an unwieldy, poorly run and under-serving system (a system that has difficulty handling the traffic during moderate periods and forget peak periods) that the users must contend with today! We have a plethora of accidents and incidents that threaten the very core of the system! (JFK, TEB, HOU, STL, LEX, MTJ, SBA and the list goes on and on. All caused by mismanagement and poorly/unqualified people operating the most complex aviation system in the world.)
All this in no way “mitigates or belittles” what the rest of the aviation industry has been suffering through, which includes those now engaged in the industry, who are encountering hurdles/struggling against obstacles, at this very moment in time, just to stay in business. When I read Secretary of Transportation La Hood’s “edict” that all aircraft would be “required” to have installed ADS-B, regardless of cost, that “the specter” of “Big Government” was at hand and that the “lowly aircraft owner” would comply with or face the “wrath of his master” in Washington!
At once I realized, it was the “supreme plan” of those who were “our masters in government” who would “decide our fate” as a nation of aviators and airmen. A dedicated group aviators, managers, manufacturers and maintenance personnel who brought overwhelming progress to the world through aviation, during the 20th Century and that progress was suddenly at an end. One only has to look at the “other Changes” in store for our beloved aviation industry and that fate is “demise”, under the “burden” of an all intrusive “government for the government, by the government and of the government”, mandating, even dictating to the “lowly people” of our nation. So much for the “hallowed phrases” of our Constitution!
The people who are the aviation industry of this nation, were “cheated and swindled” by 16 years of mismanagement in government and more specifically the FAA and now it’s back with a vengeance. I wrote to Administrator Babbitt and wished him well, after reviewing his exemplary credentials, upon his appointment to the post as FAA Administrator. I also knew it would take him many years (if he were allowed to), just to recover the organization, from many years of “debilitating and degrading” mismanagement! LB
PS: A prime example of exceedingly poor management was when the FAA decided and then mandated that every licensed pilot be “forced” to upgrade their pilot license from the “old paper document”, most had held since they acquired them many years ago (nearly 50 years in my case) by “jumping through FAA’s hoops” and paying a small fee.
Not a “big deal” say some, but consider this: The FAA has always required, under penalty of law, that each and everyone of us who held such a certificate, no matter how long, was required to surrender it’s use and apply on-line or by mail to get a new plastic one.
The “onus” was upon the certificate holder, not the FAA! Here is an agency who has fastidiously required those who held such certificates to “make application”, not the government to supply them based upon their records, as intended by our Constitution. This is an extreme case of the “tail wagging the dog”! A government that “forced” said certificate holders to “make application”, even though they knew exactly who we were and where we lived! Why didn’t they just send us new one’s if they wanted us to have them? No fanfare! No non-sense! No drama! No “lording over the lowly certificate holder”.
Just look at the records that they have meticulously maintained on each of us and send out new certificates! It would have saved significant amounts of money for taxpayers/certificate holders, as a whole and simplified the entire process. Ahh…but it would have required some “minion” at FAA to accomplish a “compare of records” to ensure that a “new certificate” wasn’t issued to someone who did not and had not held a valid medical for some period of time!
That “clincher” was the “driving force” in the FAA’s decision to require initiation (otherwise forfeiture) of piloting rights. Non-sense! The “government controls and the people obey”, that is the “new rule” in the 21st century! LB
Never would be soon enough for me.