Page 20 - Volume 13 Number 5

ADS-B News and Alcohol Testing
During Ramp Inspections Has
Started in Some Countries
by Kim Blonigen
Aviation Groups Worry a Recent FAA Policy Statement on Actions for Non-equipped ADS-B Out Operators Caused Confusion
On April 1, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a Statement of Policy establishing its course of action for issuing air traffic control (ATC) authorization to those operating aircraft that are not equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B) Out equipment in ADS-B airspace after the Jan. 1, 2020 deadline.
A non-equipped ADS-B Out aircraft operator must make a request to ATC for an authorized deviation at least one hour before the proposed flight in to the ADS-B Airspace. Obtaining the authorization may be difficult as they will be addressed on a “case-by-case
basis” and ATC might not be able to grant them for a variety of reasons, which include workload, runway configurations, air traffic flow, weather, etc. The FAA also made clear that it will not redirect ATC resources from their other functions for these authorizations and as they begin to divest radar, accommodations for non- equipped aircraft in ADS-B Out airspace will become more complicated. The statement also communicated that unscheduled operators conducting flights into the major facilities in class B airspace will have difficulty obtaining authorizations at all.
Shortly after the policy statement was made public, aviation groups warned that the FAA statement was not a substitute for getting ADS-B Out equipment, but rather for operators who weren’t able get their installation date before the Jan. 1, 2020 deadline due to schedule
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
MAY 2019
AVIATION ISSUES