Timetable rolled back on ADS-B

Under a Joint Consultation Paper released in July 2007 by Airservices, CASA, the Department of Transport and the Department of Defence, the authorities proposed that mandatory carriage of ADS-B Out avionics would have become mandatory from 2012 for all aircraft which are currently required to carry a transponder as part of a wider adoption of satellite based technologies. Under the proposal, Airservices would have been able to start to decommission enroute radars from this time.

The JCP also proposed a wider mandatory adoption of ADS-B by all aircraft currently required to carry a VHF radio by 2014. This would then allow for the decommissioning of a number of non-backup navigation aids around the country, producing great savings for Airservices.

The initial JCP drew strong reactions from a number of groups, with the point being raised during the Aviation Green Paper process. In particular, the Recreational Aviation Association of Australia expressed strong opposition to the JCP, primarily due to the additional costs which would be borne by RA-Aus members to fit ADS-B avionics to their aircraft, which in some cases would have equalled the value of the aircraft. They also expressed concern over building a “video screen VFR” culture for pilots which were able to track aircraft using ADS-B In technology rather than the traditional “see and avoid” approach.

Another contentious issue for the takeup of ADS-B was a proposed a cross-industry subsidy which would have started this year and would have assisted GA operators to start fitting the equipment to their aircraft. To have started operating in 2008, the subsidy would cover an estimated $10,000 for ADS-B Out avionics on VFR aircraft and $15,00 for ADS-B In on IFR aircraft.

However, with many groups raising issues over the business case of this program and it ultimately was a major factor in the decision to delay the program. “The business case for an accelerated program of subsidised fitment of ADS-B avionics into the general aviation fleet was based on the savings which could have been realised by not replacing en-route radars,” Airservices said. “However not all significant issues raised by industry could be resolved in the timeframes available.”

Instead, now Airservices says it will adjust its timetable to implement mandatory ADS-B to bring it more in line with the international adoption of the technology. Currently, Europe, Canada and the US are planning on ADS-B implementation from 2015-2020.

Nevertheless, funding and technical issues in these countries could still force schedule changes in these projects.

Former CASA chairman Dick Smith told Australian Aviation, the change in the ADS-B timetable was welcome news, as the original timetable was overly ambitious and driven by an “emotional argument” by some parties within Airservices who were seeking to be early pioneers of ADS-B across all levels of aviation.

“While I fully back ADS-B and see it as the way of the future, it’s only prudent to wait for the technology to develop further on the internationally and risk ending up with a unique system which is different to what the rest of the world is adopting,” said Smith. He also said that there were still issues over the political stability of the Global Navigation Satellite System which ADS-B relies upon, and also the security of ADS-B transmissions, in particular the ability of the system to deal with false transmissions.

As a result of the delay to the wider ADS-B program, Airservices is understood to be currently sourcing additional spare parts to maintain a number of secondary surveillance radars and other navaids which would not have been replaced under the JCP timetable. Nevertheless, it is still on track to achieve ADS-B coverage above in upper airspace across most parts of the Australian continent by the end of the year.
While the timetable has been rolled back, the government said in the recent aviation Green Paper that it was still committed to the take up of satellite based navigation technology across the aviation industry, including ADS-B.

“The Government will be providing a clearer planning framework for our aviation agencies on directions for navigation and surveillance,” Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said at the launch of the Green Paper in December last year. “The Government will also ask agencies to finalise a proposal for the wider adoption of ADS-B technology.”

In the absence of a subsidised funding model and definite timetable on the adoption of mandatory ADS-B, Airservices says it “is considering a number of initiatives to increase voluntary take-up of ADS-B avionics.”