Laters And Waiters

In the decade-plus since the coming ADS-B mandate became a thing for U.S. aviation, those whose operations will be affected have fallen mainly into two camps: early adopters and those who put it off as long as possible. In this binary world, I freely admit to being something of an early adopter. And despite some cool-and less expensive-new gear on the market, Im happy with my choice to equip with ADS-B in 2016. Its likely those who have taken a wait-and-see attitude also are happy.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Sunday, August 04, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots preparing for the ADS-B mandate largely split into early and late adopters, with both groups finding satisfaction in their respective decisions.
Early adopters benefited from immediate access to enhanced safety features, improved traffic awareness, and ATC visibility for several years.
Late adopters benefited from waiting, as the market evolved to offer more advanced and cost-effective ADS-B equipment solutions.

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In the decade-plus since the coming ADS-B mandate became a thing for U.S. aviation, those whose operations will be affected have fallen mainly into two camps: early adopters and those who put it off as long as possible. In this binary world, I freely admit to being something of an early adopter. And despite some cool—and less expensive—new gear on the market, I’m happy with my choice to equip with ADS-B in 2016. It’s likely those who have taken a wait-and-see attitude also are happy.

In fact, products designed for ADS-B have been available since shortly after the rules defining the standard and equipage date were made final. In fact, very early adopters of ADS-B Out might be getting to the end of their equipment’s life cycle, and once again find themselves in the hardware market. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that they have more choices today, often with improved features and less expense, than 10 years ago. That’s a feature of competitive markets.