The latest statistics from the FAA show that the number of general aviation aircraft equipped with ADS-B Out — as of Dec. 1, 2019 — is 79,214.
Total number of all aircraft equipped before the Jan. 1, 2020, mandate requiring ADS-B Out in certain airspace is 111,400, according to the agency.
The data does not include experimental aircraft or light-sport aircraft.
The data also shows the number of NPE aircraft — aircraft that have nonperforming emitters.
According to agency officials, NPE aircraft include any ADS-B Out system that is not transmitting in compliance with FAR 91.227. The reasons for non-compliance vary, from hardware that doesn’t meet the performance standards to installation errors to operational errors by pilots.
Is Your ADS-B equipment compliant?
Aircraft owners can’t tell on their own whether their ADS-B equipment is compliant. If you aren’t sure — or have received a letter from the FAA saying it isn’t in compliance, you should go to the FAA’s ADS-B performance website and request a Public ADS-B Performance Report (PAPR).
After answering a few questions about your ADS-B installation, you will receive a report from the FAA showing what parameters have failed, if any.
The FAA has been updating current equipage levels on its website on a monthly basis leading up to its New Year’s Day deadline. As of Dec. 13, 2019, only 20 days remain before the mandate arrives.
Tailbeacon.
Under 2Gs and I installed it myself in about 30 min.
Why anybody would pay someone for 3 hours of labor to do what they can do is a mystery to me.
Seriously, if you can’t put one of those in by yourself you should take up stamp collecting instead of General Aviation.
2Gs isn’t cheap but they have a gun to your head.
And yes, I think this whole thing is all about knowing where to send your bill for using “their” airspace.
And another thing.
If you are in the habit of flying for 40 minutes and logging an hour while you’re “Building time” those days are over if they ever check your log book against a performance report.
They know if you’ve been sleeping. They know if you’re awake………..
Rich,
I agree tailbeacon is a good option too.
However you said “Why anybody would pay someone for 3 hours of labor to do what they can do is a mystery to me.”…”Seriously, if you can’t put one of those in by yourself you should take up stamp collecting instead of General Aviation.”
THAT my friend seems quite condescending.
I assume it was in response to my message below about installing a skyBeacon as a relatively low cost solution.
I have worked with electronics since grade school and with computers since 1962. As an 18 year old I was an engineering assistant recording and analyzing sound and vibration data on the Saturn 5 engine test stand at Rocketdyne.
I’ve been doing work on aircraft since I learned to fly in 1975.
I had my reasons for having my mechanic do the job. And I knew that most of the time charged had nothing to do with connecting wires and tightening screws. Most of it went into reading and following the instructions, running the checks, programming the unit, and completing the required paperwork he provided for my aircraft log.
I am not certified to sign it off and I had tons of other work and deadlines in front of me. I was happy to pay my mechanic for his time and help.
I don’t know too many owner/operators who can afford the $7/$11K for this installation. I KNOW I CAN’T. Am I all alone here, or just venting out?
I purchased the uAvionix wingtip unit for about $1800 and my mechanic installed it for $300. Bonus: it provided me a brand new LED wingtip light and LED strobe too!
If you need to check settings or enter a special call sign such as for charitable volunteer pilot operations you can do that with a smartphone too.
The unit communicates with your original mode C transponder.
SO – it doesn’t have to be that expensive to install a unit good for most USA operations.
Regs only require the OUT side of ADSB . It takes the IN side to see anyone who transmits the OUT, if they have it. Requiring only the out tells me that big brother wants to know who you are flying around, and eventually pulling the European system of FEES for everytime you go around the patch. If it was to enhance saftey, the IN would also be required.
I remember when TCAS came out for airline and corporate aircraft. It was received with open arms by the crews. ADS-B by the GA crowd? Not so much by maybe more than a negative few.
The one thing that ADS-B has that TCAS doesn’t have is inflight weather. As a retired airline guy who still enjoys flying his GA spam can, I don’t get the ADS-B negative attitudes.
iPad, ForeFlight, AHRS, synth vision, terrain depiction, inflight weather, flight plan opening/closing capability, GPS nav, LPV approach capability, traffic, etc. The options available are incredible for those who want to take advantage. For those who just want to fly their taildragger off a grass strip in East Rural County, they are not required to equip. I think it’s called freedom and opportunity.
Would I like everyone to have ADS-B? Absolutely! Is it going to happen? Nope. Equip the way you want, keep looking outside and press on. ADS-B is better than nothing.
ADSB is a help but it is definitely NOT a technological cure-all. There is a lot of hardware flying around which doesn’t and won’t have ADSB. You will still need to look out the window for other traffic – drones, ultralights, airplanes with no electrical systems installed, RC aircraft, balloons, skydivers, birds, heck, I’ve even seen a plastic Wal-Mart grocery bag floating around at 4,000′ AGL! The US Navy has until 2029 to equip (I’d guess they have a tad more firepower than the FAA), other military aircraft may have the same exemption. Some of them are stealth, so we won’t get radio calls from ATC advising us of fast moving traffic closing from 3 o’clock.
Over reliance on technical “cures” is a disease of lawmakers who know nothing about the subject, won’t be writing the checks and don’t have to comply anyway. You can have all the trick electronics and a St. Joseph’s medal on your panel, you still have to look out the window for other traffic. Don’t get complacent – ADSB is just another tool to (probably) make flying a bit safer, but so far, our personal participation in flying remains a vital requirement.
So far, ADS-B out is just a way to bill pilots for using airspace. That will not change until jumpers, gliders and (Heaven knows) powered parachutes are required to be equipped with ADS-B out. Even then the financial motivators will remain the same, but the system will at least become useful to pilots and owners of fixed wing aircraft.
Nice number. Little meaning without knowing who has NOT installed. And as long as drones are flying around without this tech they are both below radar and unseen to ADS-B.
You will never know “who” has not. Keep your head out of the cockpit. There are a lot of us out there without ADS-B and without transponders.
Yep. At least we have a tool to see more aircraft than we have possibly seen in the past, along with valuable inflight weather information. I’d much rather have ADS-B than not.
I have been flying for six years with ADS-B IN/OUT. I fly regularly in Class B, C and D airspaces. And in California. It is IMPOSSIBLE to spot the aircraft you will encounter in those areas by sight. The number of ADS-B targets is in the multi-dozens within five miles of the aircraft at all times. Sure ATC gives you the general direction to look but 99% of the time you will not see them until it’s too late. You are flying blind and deaf since you lack the tech (and can’t talk to ATC since they can’t ID you without a Mode C transponder). The first time you inadvertently venture near or in a structured airspace you will be toast.