About the time this issue of the magazine hits your mailbox, the FAA will hold what its labeled a Call to Action summit designed to engage the aviation industry in meeting the January 1, 2020, deadline to equip aircraft with new avionics technology. The invitation- and industry-only event is set for October 28 and is the agencys latest high-visibility attempt to encourage users of all affected aircraft and airspace to equip with technology complying with the FAAs NextGen standard, namely, ADS-B OUT. The table on page 15 details where itll be required. About a week after the agency announced its summit, the Inspector General for the FAAs parent Department of Transportation issued a report critical of its progress on NextGen and ADS-B.
Meanwhile, industry observers point out two truisms: First, its not likely the FAA will extend the January 1, 2020, deadline for carrying ADS-B OUT in certain airspace. Second, if every operator of an aircraft presently lacking ADS-B were to decide, now, to commission installation of the necessary equipment, available avionics shop capacity and turnaround times mean not everyone can be accommodated and equipped in time to meet the deadline. The implication is if you dont have ADS-B installed already, you may have problems getting the work performed in time to meet the deadline, and certainly wont be able to use certain airspace after that day.
