On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:56:04 GMT, (Ron Lee)
wrote in :

....
Previous AOPA statements that 75% of GA pilots are in favor of ADS-B
if they get free weather fail to prperly cover the costs to the pilot
for avionics. Once you read the NPRM and my review, an objectively
worded poll would probably show less than 5% of GA pilots willing to
equip with all the ADS-B avionics needed to get free weather.


AOPA FINDS ADS-B PROPOSAL NEEDS WORK
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#196330)
AOPA has taken a first look at the FAA's complex new ADS-B
proposal
(http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/article...1003ads-b.html)

(http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news...196268-1.html),
and found plenty of technical and cost issues that will affect
general aviation pilots. Randy Kenagy, AOPA senior director of
strategic planning, said an initial review of the 100-page Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking showed that "much more work needs to be
done before the FAA publishes its final rule." The proposal would
require all aircraft operators to install ADS-B equipment by 2020
if they want to fly in controlled airspace. The new avionics would
provide cockpit weather and traffic information to pilots,
replacing services such as flight following or en route vectoring.
AOPA President Phil Boyer tied the FAA proposal to the current
fight over user fees. "If they [the FAA] want GA pilots to spend
thousands of dollars on new avionics, we need to make sure that
the expenditures are considered as we assess what GA should pay in
fuel taxes in the future FAA budget," he said.

It would appear that AOPA is revising it's stance on the mandatory
ADS-B issue, but given the fact that AOPA feels it would only cost
each aircraft owner "thousands of dollars," not tens of thousands of
dollars, it is doubtful they yet fully appreciate the ramifications of
the issue. While mandatory ADS-B equipment might be a step forward
for GA pilot operations, it would seem to me, that it is FAA (and
avionics manufacturers) who stand to receive the most benefit from
this proposal.

And if mandatory ADS-B installation were to result in the
decommissioning of ATC radar installations, that would be a step
backward, because there would be no backup system in the event of an
outage in ADS-B operation. But more importantly, the validity of
aircraft positional information, upon which ATC currently relies,
would switch from an empirical to reported. That coupled with the
change from terrestrial based communications to satellite based
communications would seem to provide reduced system integrity, IMO.