Operators have responded to the proposed ADS-B mandate for general aviation aircraft with a Bronx cheer, AINonline reports.
A cost-benefit case for ADS-B equipage of general aviation aircraft cannot be made, concluded an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) in a report published last week. Analysis of public comments relating to the FAA’s September 2007 ADS-B NPRM showed 101 positive and 1,271 “non-positive” responses.
Sources tell the Aviation International News website they saw little or no benefit to the plan, when compared with its compliance costs. And without incentives, they add, many operators will stall on buying ADS-B “out” equipment, on the assumption that avionics prices will only come down. Plus, equipment purchased today could well be obsolete by 2020, the proposed compliance date.
As one FAA insider conceded to AIN, “We didn’t anticipate it might be interpreted that way.”
