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.
