ADS-B Success Depends on User Acceptance and Equipage
In testimony before the House aviation subcommittee yesterday, DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel told lawmakers that user acceptance and voluntary equipa

In testimony before the House aviation subcommittee yesterday, DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel told lawmakers that user acceptance and voluntary equipage are the keys for ADS-B to be fully successful. While the FAA will mandate usage of “ADS-B Out” for most classes of controlled airspace by 2020, it expects that airspace users will voluntarily equip with additional capabilities associated with “ADS-B In.” Scovel said the FAA negotiated a “robust” $1.8 billion contract with ITT but warned that it needs “proper execution and enforcement.” He said stakeholders are concerned that ADS-B could become another situation where some industry members equip and the FAA never follows through with the requisite ground infrastructure or mandate. The agency canceled a microwave landing system in the 1990s because of industry concerns and opposition, and more recently it dropped the controller-pilot datalink communications program in 2003 because of uncertain benefits, technical problems and cost-growth issues.