With only 16 months remaining for aircraft owners to meet the FAA’s ADS-B Out mandate by Jan. 1, 2020, the agency is continually updating equipage levels on its website, separating it by general aviation and airlines.
As of Aug. 1, 2018, 44,058 general aviation fixed-wing aircraft in the U.S. have been equipped.
Overall, a total of 61,101 aircraft have been equipped to date.
See the FAA’s report on equipage levels.
A problem I see is the absence of a requirement for the “IN”. As a system that is touted to be such a safety measure, why is only half of it required? What is the purpose requiring a system, over a system that is already in place, in the designated areas. A transponder transmits where you are and an “out” system transmits where you are. The only real difference is you are now transmitting your identity also. What does that in effect do, governmental control. AH Ha we have you now. A safety issue I do not believe it is, a control issue, yup. Otherwise, the complete system would be required. A lot will be running around with the “out” thinking every one else will be seeing them, and that will not be the case. If the FAA thinks it is damn important, then they should pony up the cost to every registered aircraft. It would cost them less than one airport repave job that they send out grants for now.
Since the airlines and Military are asking for (and will get) relief from the 2020 deadline why are we so worried. I flew Commercially before I retired a couple years ago and very few airline airplanes had ADS-B, yes, the newer ones come with it and the ones that fly long haul routes but all the old ones that we fly here in the USA don’t and might not ever as it takes time to install the equipment and that time is time that it could be making an airline profit. Besides my 1941 Cub doesn’t have to comply (grandfathered, no electric system) so I hope you guys are still looking out the windshields some of the time instead of trusting the ADS-B to save you.
The airlines have TCAS for traffic and if we have ADS-B In we’re covered by seeing their transponders. So, the problem isn’t so bad if the airlines don’t upgrade right away.
Still looking outside for traffic…
ADS-B is for sure a bungled program but what then do we expect, we are from the FAA and we are here to help you. I find the wx radar to be woefully inferior to XM wx. The ADS-B wx appears to have about a 30 minute latency and when operating in crowded airspace, it gets very granular.
Interestingly, many of the older airliners are exempt from the 2020 deadline so they can fly right up our tail and neither of us will know they are coming. Once the fleet has been converted watch for some sort of pay for play above and beyond what we are paying now in use taxes on fuel & parts. Don’t think it can happen, look at how monopoly FBOs are charging for access to public airports. Government is closing its eyes on this one and will eventually see the pot of gold at the end of the ADS-B down link.
Until it gets cheaper I have no intention of purchasing or installing on my airplane. Won’t be a problem for me to stay out of Class C or B, or a 30 mile veil as I just fly for pleasure, and I’ll get no pleasure out of spending $3,000 and up just to fly near a big city. I prefer the quiet small-town airports and their hospitality.
The problem with the “see and avoid” method of traffic separation is that you don’t always see to avoid. With ADS-B I’m “seeing” more traffic that I never would have known was there. I don’t always fly in mandated airspace. It seems that traffic can be at the least expected places. The money I spent is worth the resulting comfort.
Alaska, the mother of ADS-B with the proof-of-concept Capstone Program, just had another mid-air this summer with see and avoid. I wonder how those families feel about not spending the money, now?
There’s more to ADS-B than just spending the money to satisfy a regulation.
Is anyone able to explain if there may be an advantage to 978UAT out for bush flying like AK versus 1090ES out? Also for central FL with lots of flight schools plus high VFR traffic, might 978UAT have any advantages?
ADS-B has it’s plus too. Watching weather ahead, watch where the big boys with their fancy weather radars go to go deviate/around it. Especially since I do not have any weather other than my stratus 2! Follow their lead.
Possibly of more interest is how many GA aircraft do not have ADS-B installed.
Also, how many do not plan on equipping with ADS-B out ? If a pilot doesn’t fly in class C or B airspace, or above 10,000 agl , he has no need other than to be seen with more info vs mode C.
Don’t forget the Mode C Veil as being part of Class B airspace. You may be clear of the actual Class B airspace, but within the 30NM veil, which currently requires a transponder and, eventually, ADS-B.
Manny … take a real close look at the Orlando Mode C veil in Florida. All the non-equipped airplanes are going to be traveling around it through two very narrow corridors. Mark my words … this is going to present NMAC and actual collisions !! To a lesser extent, this will happen in other places, too.
Even more so at the Seattle Class B. See the gap between the Class B on the west side and the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. That is a popular north-south, VFR corridor when low ceilings exist.
I find it ironic that in Alaska, where ADS-B became a proof of concept trial with the Capstone program, that there are many aircraft, commercial and private, who still do not have transponders installed. There are position calls on specified frequencies, but ADS-B In and Out would be so much more effective. I know one guy who won’t turn on his transponder so his competitors can’t track him. The real world…
Yup … that’s a ‘special’ mode of ADS-B … O-F-F … similar to anonymous mode 🙂
I never thought about “competitors’ … good point.
So which is best in AK, 978UAT or 1090ES for bush pilots?
Still seeking best low altitude ADS-B out, does 978UAT have the advantage over 1090ES except for international and above 10,000msl?
Ken … FAIR question.
A: LOTS of ’em … three or four times as many GA airplanes as are equipped are not.
Worse, many have no plan to equip. The FAA has totally mismanaged the process of the changeover from Mode A/C to Mode S / ADS-B. There were SO many errors in the way the process was handled that ‘they’ had to instigate the ADS-B Rebate program to give it a push last year. Even then, many Rebates went unclaimed. Making matters worse, many equipment manufacturers require that their dealers do the installs … even after the FAA allowed capable A&Ps to do the work. The cost is an issue, too. Privacy (if flying VFR without ATC services) is a problem for some. And let’s not forget the NavWorx fiasco. The process could been handled SO much better but wasn’t. A decade in and there’s so few equipped airplanes doesn’t speak well.
I AM surprised at the fast rate of increase in the number of equipped airplanes this year, however. AEA is talking about insufficient numbers of shops to do the work but it seems like it’s happening anyways. As an A&P, I did my own install last year … it was easy. I think equipment OEM’s are ‘scaring’ everyone when — in fact — once you do one it’s easy to do follow on installs.
Agreed. The FAA has really bungled ADS-B as a whole. It is overpriced, overly restrictive on the equipment, and poorly managed. There was no need for the super expensive GPS units. Who cares if I know the position of the aircraft to the 1/4 millimeter vs 10 meters. That drove the price way up. The mod -C traffic displayed on the units is hit and miss. Usually, mode-C traffic pops up on the screen intermittently at best, then disappears. The FAA needs to stop sending out traffic from the ADS-B stations as individual replies with a small block of traffic, and simply broadcast the traffic for an area. The current scheme has already cost the lives of pilots with ADS-B receivers, but no ads-B Out. (Anyone recall the F-16 and Cessna collision?). I adopted ADS-B 4 years ago. What I have observed is an unreliable, totally mismanaged, bungled up bureaucratic mess. It could be fixed, but the FAA would have to give up their carrot and stick implementation in favor of simply broadcasting the traffic data.
My Garmin 345, with dedicated external antenna, is much more sensitive to receiving towers (and I assume traffic) than the Stratus 2S I subsequently sold. I live in the mountains, which further limits tower reception.
Perhaps a review of how it works is in order to understand the dimensions of the “ hockey puck” traffic area and how just having In limits how the system works without having Out.
A big side benefit for me in having FIS-B weather on a long XC with a fuel stop is knowing the weather and NOTAMS while enroute. I don’t have to call FSS for cancelling the flight plan, getting a weather brief and refiling. Just use ForeFlight for all that. One flight was 10.2 hours with two stops enroute (I couldn’t dawdle or the weather would ground me for a few days). I bet I saved at least an hour on the ground by having ADS-B’s FIS-B and filing with ForeFlight. The overall capability is impressive compared to just a few years ago. I’m now in cooperate/graduate mode.
Now if everyone would at least have Out…everywhere…sigh…