Just two days left to try to stop an expensive and worthless FAA mandate on ADS-B

On Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:22:52 +0000, Ron Lee wrote:

Separate from this, the GA owner can choose whether or not to spend the
extra dollars to gain direct benefit from this network.

Do look into it and determine if the high cost is worth it to you. It
is not to me

We did a survey in our club a while back regarding how the members (each
of whom is an owner, BTW) would like to see money spent on upgrades.
That is, is WX more or less important than traffic, etc.

WX was first (which shouldn't be a surprise). Traffic was #2. This was
a surprise to me given the raw numbers (ie. found in the Nall report).
But we do fly in a congested area, and one of our home airports has a
nontrivial history of nearby MACs.

We didn't weight the survey questions by price; that's probably our next
step. Tossing the price of ADS-B-IN into the mix may very well change
the ordering. But, just from idle chatter, I see that traffic really is
a big concern for us.

On the other hand, I believe that Zaon (?) has said that they'd be
releasing a portable ADS-B-IN based unit at some point. So the cost may
be far lower than what we're seeing today.

- Andrew

On Mar 3, 9:22*pm, (Ron Lee) wrote:
Did you write "out" where you'd meant to write "in"? *Otherwise, I'm
afraid that I'm not understanding your question.

GA pilots aren't funding equipment in other aircraft. *They are, however,
funding the creation of a network in the air whereby all aircraft
(excluding military? *Nasty, that!) are announcing their positions. *It's
not all that different from transponders, in the sense that putting a
transponder in an aircraft benefits all aircraft, and not just the
aircraft footing the bill.

Incorrect. *Without ADS-B In capability...or talking to ATC,
broadcasting ADS-B Out does nothing for you. *Mode-C does just as
good.

Seems to me that having ADS-B Out only does at least as much for me as
a Mode-C transponder, only better. A TCAS I or II equipped airplane
can see my mode-C and maybe able to avoid me without my even knowing
he's there. Sounds like a benefit to me. If I have ADS-B Out, the
ADS-B In equipped airplane will likewise be able to see me and avoid
hitting me - still a benefit, I think. He'll do a better job of
avoiding me in the ADS-B case because he won't be relying on
directional antenna technology to obtain my azimuth, but rather will
calculate the azimuth to me based on differencing the GPS positions -
a much more accurate calculation. Even if the other guy doesn't have
ADS-B In, but is IFR and talking to center, center will be able to
give much more accurate traffic information than they can with Mode-
C. Yet another benefit for me, even if I'm VFR and not talking to
ATC.

Separate from this, the GA owner can choose whether or not to spend the
extra dollars to gain direct benefit from this network. *

Do look into it and determine if the high cost is worth it to you. *It
is not to me

I think the cost estimates are totally bogus for the GA market. After
all, it's only a GPS and a transmitter.
I'd be surprised if a complete GA market ADS-B Out/In system couldn't
be done for a couple thou.

K l e i n