5000FT Ceiling

[John Brandon]

Before getting too carried away with the 5000 feet ceiling consider this:

 

There is a Joint Consultation Paper which proposes that from June 2012, ADS-B OUT avionics will be required for all VFR operations that currently require carriage and use of a transponder; which includes operations in Class E airspace. And from June 2014, ADS-B OUT avionics will also be required for all VFR operations that currently require carriage and use of a VHF radio; which includes operations in Class G airspace above 5000 feet and in CTAF ®. The same general exemptions that currently apply for carriage and use of transponders/VHF transceivers would also apply to carriage of ADS-B transmitters.

 

The cost of purchase and installation of the TSO'd ADS-B OUT avionics for each of 11,000 light VFR aircraft [including ultralights] is expected to be less than $10,000. It is proposed that "this could be managed as a cross-industry funding transfer via Airservices, whereby enroute charges are maintained at today’s levels for a set period, and the additional funds that are not required to maintain or replace the existing ground radars, NDBs and VORs can be passed on to light aircraft owners in the form of cross-industry funding."

 

The question is whether those fee paying sectors of Australian aviation, mainly the airlines, would willingly donate perhaps $10,000 to each of perhaps 2000 ultralight owners [i.e.$20,000,000 in total] out of their own pockets to enable ultralights to fly above 5000 feet or in Class E should you choose to do so. I would think their quite reasonable response would be "in your dreams sport!"

 

So in my opinion it is quite likely that in a few years if you want to fly above 5000 feet or in Class E or operate at a CTAF ® you may have to ante up ten grand for the privilege.

 

The JCP and response form are on the CASA website.

 

cheers

 

John Brandon

 

I forgot to mention that after 2012/2014 the owners of all new registrations will have to pay for the avionics anyway.

 

 

[eastmeg2]

John raises a few interesting points which most of us have probably been unaware of so far and may stir up some discussion here.

 

I'm suprised to read that the ADS-B OUT avionics will cost around $10k. Perhaps this is a fully fledged GA/IFR version and something more affordable will be available for the recreational flying community. The propasal seems unworkable at that unit cost.

 

The proposal also seems to neglect the occasional need for U/L VFR aircraft to fly above 5000ft to maintain safe clearance from terrain.

 

Is it safe to assume the RA-Aus committee are aware of "The Proposal" and providing input?

 

Rgds,

 

Glen

 

 

[slartibartfast]

There's some interesting reading on the subject on the RAAus website here. As this was written by John Brandon in 2004, I think it's safe to assume he is well informed on the matter, and that RAAus are on top of it.

 

The article mentions lower cost options, such as using the NMEA serial port output from a subsidised ADS-B out 1090ES transmitter as input to a PDA based moving map display. The cost will depend on how much the ADS-B out transmitters cost by the time implementation is required, and how much it will be subsidised.

 

ADS-B is proposed as a solution to the problem of aging radar and NDBs. The money saved on not renewing this infrastructure should be used to subsidise the replacement system. Of course, government at the time may see a new pool of money and gobble it.

 

The benefits to ultralight aviation in Australia are very dubious. The majority of mid-air collisions or near misses between day VFR traffic occur in circuit, formation flying, or between gliders sharing the same lift. ADS-B will not help in these situations, and may even cause more incidents because pilots may have their heads in the cockpit more to watch the situation on screen - placing their trust in the technology rather than their far more complex (and reliable) eyeballs.

 

We may need to put our collective muscle behind this one.

 

Thanks for the info John.

 

Ross

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

There is also info on the Microair website www.microair.com.au as ADS-B is just the natural evolution of Secondary Surveilance Radar, SSR (or IFF if you want the military terminology ) adding mode S and ADS-B to the existing mode A and C.

 

An interesting pdf can be found here http://www.microair.com.au/admin/uploads/T2000ACSStransponderspecification01R1.pdf

 

P.S with the info contained in the PDF it seems to me that the $10K figure that is bandied about is likely to be the installed and certified cost. Equipment costs should be significantly cheaper than that, from what I can see.

 

regards

 

Andy

 

 

[vk3auu]

The gliding fraternity aready have a proven system called FLARM, units for which sell here for less than $1K and use 50 milliamps at 12 volts. If you put FLARM into Google you will get a mine of information.

 

10 grand seems a lot for the proposed ADSB units, but the units will probably need to be TSO'd and also installed and maintained by a suitably qualified LAME.

 

David

 

 

[vk3auu]

I also might add, that I suggested to the powers that it appeared that they were aiming for a system accuracy which might be compatible with docking a couple of spacecraft, rather than just aiming to avoid collisions, but they didn't seem to be impressed.

 

David