Benefits To Agency Clear; Less So For Many Pilots
"Fairly one-sided." That's how the
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association sums up the FAA's proposal
to equip most of the US civil aircraft fleet with automatic
dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology by 2020.
As ANN reported, the FAA
announced its plan October 2. The agency's proposed rulemaking
would require all aircraft flying above 10,000 feet MSL, or within
Class B or C terminal airspace, with the satellite-based
technology, in a move the FAA intends to reduce its infrastructure
of aging ground-based radar systems.
"This represents a big cost shift for the FAA and should be
considered in the funding debate that surrounds the current FAA
reauthorization legislation," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "If
they want GA pilots to spend thousands of dollars on new avionics,
we need to make sure that the expenditures are considered as we
assess what GA should pay in fuel taxes in the future FAA budget.
Plus, we need to see clearly the safety and operational
benefits.
"But also remember, this is a long time off," Boyer added. "We
at least have some time to prepare."
The proposal mentions two kinds of ADS-B. "ADS-B out" would act
similar to a transponder, where aircraft location and altitude
information would be sent out once per second. Under the FAA's
implementation plan, traditional services such as flight-following
or radar-like vectoring in new locations would not be offered.
Aircraft owners would have to install a display at an additional
cost to receive the "ADS-B in" service, which would provide weather
and traffic data to the pilot.
The pilot advocacy group says many technical questions have
already surfaced in the week since AOPA began its analysis of the
proposal. The group had asked for advanced copies of the proposal,
AOPA notes... but the FAA did not grant that request.
Boyer said AOPA will brief its members on comments the group
plans to submit before the 90-day comment period expires.
"AOPA members will be given access to our full analysis when
complete so they may take advantage of our research to compose
their own comments," Boyer added.
"Our initial review indicates that much more work needs to be
done before the FAA publishes its final rule," said Randy Kenagy,
AOPA senior director of strategic planning. "AOPA is committed to
working through every one of the issues that will be of concern to
members."