The International Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (IAOPA) is calling for Mode-Snot to be mandatory on all aircraft as the secondary surveillance radar system will be replaced by the automatic dependence surveillance and broadcast (ADS-B) systems. Mode-S provides position reporting, one of the functions of ADS-B, and has been mandated by Eurocontrol.
IAOPA, which represents over 450,000 members worldwide, says for the typical general aviation aircraft owner, "Mode-S is expensive [a transponder costs $8,000] and gives us nothing. It's not only costly, but inappropriate."
Martin Robinson, president of IAOPA, says Mode-S only provides one of the three aspects of an air-navigation system. "While the future air navigation system has three elements: communication, navigation and surveillance, Mode-S only addresses the surveillance aspect." He adds: "To give Mode-S the communication and navigation abilities, it would be too big to fit into a small aircraft."
Robinson suggests that if general aviation is going to be able to participate in the communication, navigation and surveillance of the future, its needs must be considered. He says private pilots represent 57% of all pilots in Europe and 58% in the USA. "We want a single-step, low-cost solution, such as satellite-based VDL-4 [VHF Data Link mode 4] which is one method of achieving ADS-B," he adds.
Source: Flight International
