Siriusly Messed Up

Getting weather info in flight has gotten cheaper due to FIS-B (ADS-B In). However, years before the FAAs eventual roll out of FIS-B and its array of free weather-information products, the dominant player in that industry was Baron Services though XM Radio. Sirius radio offered a competitive product from WSI. Eventually, Sirius and XM merged. The leading hardware was probably Garmins GDL 69 and 69A receivers getting XMs Baron offering.

Frank Bowlin

Monday, May 21, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The author expresses frustration with SiriusXM's in-flight weather service, which was once a dominant but expensive option before the introduction of free FIS-B weather.
SiriusXM launched a more affordable "Pilot Express" package to compete with FIS-B, but older Garmin GDL 69 receivers (designed for XM channels) are incompatible with this new service, forcing existing users onto higher-priced legacy plans.
Feeling exploited by this technological incompatibility and market progression, the author plans to switch to FIS-B, as the long-term subscription savings will eventually offset the cost of new hardware.

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Getting weather info in flight has gotten cheaper due to FIS-B (ADS-B In). However, years before the FAA’s eventual roll out of FIS-B and its array of free weather-information products, the dominant player in that industry was Baron Services though XM Radio. Sirius radio offered a competitive product from WSI. Eventually, Sirius and XM merged. The leading hardware was probably Garmin’s GDL 69 and 69A receivers getting XM’s Baron offering.

Like many, I installed a Garmin GDL 69. The (then) Sirius weather packages ranged from the insufficient Aviator LT for about $25 a month to the over-the-top Pro package for a whopping $95/month. I selected the $55 Aviator package and still felt the value was lacking. But when you really need the weather, it’s priceless—a concept probably not lost on Sirius execs. So, at over $700 a year I had on-board weather.