4. ADS-B Down To The Wire
Early in the year, when the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) announced that the United States GA fleet had reached a milestone in ADS-B equipage, it was an announcement that seemed like more of a warning. The shocking element of the news was not how many aircraft have been equipped but how many haven’t been outfitted yet. The milestone mentioned in the release was that in advance of the January 1, 2020, deadline, 40,000 GA aircraft have now been equipped with FAA-compliant ADS-B gear. That seems like a lot, and it is, but the kicker is how many remain to be equipped. The FAA estimates that between 100,000 and 160,000 need to be outfitted with ADS-B. So that leaves between 60,000 and 120,000 aircraft that still need the gear. GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce pointed out that “we’re now just two years out from the FAA compliance deadline”—by now we are much closer to just one year—and that “it is essential that those operators who haven’t yet make a plan for equipage to avoid having their aircraft grounded.”
