Five years ago, the US Federal Aviation Administration set a very ambitious goal. By 31 December 2019, any pilot operating in controlled airspace would be required to use a system compliant with the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B Out) mandate to continuously transmits an aircraft’s identity and precise position.
Even when the mandate was adopted in 2010, the 10-year deadline to equip all of the tens of thousands of commercial aircraft now operating in the system seemed ambitious. An even greater challenge, however, would be converting a large percentage of the general aviation fleet to become compliant.
Of the more than 200,000 aircraft in the US GA fleet, at least 150,000 aircraft owners would be required to spend thousands of dollars buying new ADS-B Out-compatible equipment. With more than 80,000 aircraft listed on the FAA registry valued below $40,000, the cost of compliance – usually more than $6,000, including a GPS wide area augmentation system (WAAS)-capable microchip – seemed too heavy a burden for most aircraft owners.
Compounding the cost issue are widespread doubts about the FAA’s ability to execute the mandate. Commercial aircraft operators remember previous air traffic modernisation programmes that were cancelled by the FAA, leaving early adopters of the new technology with a large bill and useless equipment.
Not surprisingly, only 9% of the community of GA aircraft owners had acquired ADS-B Out compatible equipment by January 2015, according to the NextGen GA Fund. That means more than 100,000 GA owners must purchase and install the necessary systems in less than five years, stretching the capacity of avionics and repair station suppliers to meet the potential demand.
The ADS-B Out mandate continues to present challenges, but there are new signs of hope as new low-cost equipment enters the market, along with new financing options.
Piper offers ADS-B In and Out functinality through the optional Garmin GTS 825 traffic advisory system on its new Meridian M500
Piper
The unveiling in February of the L-3 Aviation Products Lynx family of ADS-B Out-compliant transceivers and surveillance systems marks a key step in the transition of both the industry and the financing sector.
L-3 first “teased” the Lynx family of products last July as a low-cost compliance option for light aircraft and helicopters, with a stated goal of offering a low-end system costing $2,000.
The details of the Lynx system revealed in February covered four major products – the NGT-1000, NGT-2000, NGT-2500 and NGT-9000. The first three include a compliant GPS WAAS receiver and operate on the 978MHz universal access transceiver frequency, an option in US airspace for aircraft that operate below 18,000ft. The high-end product is the NGT-9000, a $6,800 kit plus installation, which adds a 1,090MHz extended squitter transponder, and a touch-screen display showing weather and traffic.
For L-3 Aviation Products, the star of the portfolio is expected to be the NGT-9000, as a high-end option that is still priced low enough to attract volume orders.
But the breakthrough for the GA community is the capability offered by the NGT-1000. For the first time, a manufacturer is offering a no-frills ADS-B Out compliance option priced under $2,000.
Perhaps more importantly, a public-private partnership called the NextGen GA Fund has stepped in to make the system even more affordable for a group of 10,000 early adopters.
As L-3 Aviation Products was teasing the Lynx in July 2014 at the EAA Airventure show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the NextGen GA Fund had quietly launched a new initiative called Jumpstart GA 2020. That initiative solicited bids for a volume purchase of 10,000 ADS-B Out-compliant systems. Of five bids submitted, the L-3 bid, based on the Lynx, offered the lowest price at $1,599 per system, plus a $1,000 installation fee and a $500 GPS antenna, according to the NextGen GA Fund.
The NextGen GA Fund was originally established to provide low-cost financing options using government-backed loans authorised by Congress in 2012. The FAA and the Department of Transportation, however, have not yet authorised the loan guarantees. Despite that delay, the NextGen GA Fund is continuing to offer financing packages to aircraft owners. The next step for the group is to extend the volume purchase concept. After buying 10,000 NGT-1000 systems with 978MHz transceivers, the Jumpstart GA 2020 group is now soliciting for a volume buy of the same number of systems with 1,090MHz transponders.
That fits into L-3 Aviation Products’ long-term strategy for the high-end NGT-9000. When the FAA adopted the ADS-B Out mandate in 2020, it was expected that avionics companies would develop products to meet the demand. It has taken five years, but the mandate is also starting to inspire new products that take a broader view than strictly ADS-B Out compliance.
“I think that that unit – the NGT-9000 – even if there wasn’t a mandate today, I think we will sell a lot when the price comes out and people will see what they can get,” says Todd Scholten, chief pilot for L-3 Aviation Products.
Of the thousands of aircraft that have not yet equipped, L-3 Aviation Products has targeted a group of older GA aircraft that lack multifunction displays to show data such as weather and traffic. In some ways, the value offered by equipping has eroded since 2010, as the Apple iPad – which was introduced the same year – has provided pilots with a carry-on device loaded with useful applications. With the NGT-9000, L-3 Aviation Products is offering an opportunity to consolidate that information on an installed display, while also making the aircraft ADS-B Out compliant almost as a bonus.
“You get a really good quality transponder, and it’s touch-screen,” says Scholten. “If you didn’t have an MFD in the airplane, now you’ve got some data that’s really useful for you.”
The NGT-9000 will display all NOTAMs, METARs, L-3’s traffic avoidance system and ground radar. “There’s a lot of value there,” adds Scholten. “Sure, what prompted it was the mandate. But there’s a lot of value to the pilot. We’ll be competitive to what a Mode S transponder costs today.”
By contrast, the NGT-1000 solution offered by the NextGen GA Fund is the simplest means of achieving compliance with the ADS-B Out mandate. It is aimed at pilots who already use iPad applications for displaying airport maps, NOTAMs and weather, but need a transponder with an embedded GPS WAAS locator to be compliant with the FAA’s rule. The system is mostly useless outside of the USA, except for some aircraft owners in Canada or Mexico who operate in US airspace on the 978MHz frequency.
“The market is enough that if we got even 20% of that market we would be doing really well,” Scholten says. “The big issue is there are not enough shops to meet the demand if everybody started today. A lot of people are going to wait, too, to the end. A lot of people are waiting because they think there might be a change in the rule. A lot of people are waiting because they don’t want to spend the money.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
