AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2016 - 96

P&E

ADS-B

FAA MOVES PERFORMANCE MONITOR ONLINE

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In late July the FAA rolled out a new Web interface to its ADS-B Performance Monitor (see "P&E: ADS-B A-OK?" May 2016 AOPA Pilot),
making it easier-and faster-for aircraft owners to validate the performance of their ADS-B Out installations. Requests previously were made
by email, and responses could take up to 24 hours. The new online
portal states that reports normally are delivered within 30 minutes; in
our tests, response time ranged between one and seven minutes.
On the Public ADS-B Performance Report Request webpage (https://
adsbperformance.faa.gov/PAPRRequest.aspx), owners complete a few
data fields, in most cases select aircraft equipment from drop-down
menus, and submit a request in minutes.
The first question asks for the date of the flight "in Zulu time." This
is simply the date on which the flight began, referenced to Greenwich
Mean Time. Unless it was an evening flight, for pilots on the East Coast
this will always be the local calendar date. West Coast pilots will have
to consider UTC conversions for late-afternoon flights. Worst case, if
you get it wrong, you'll receive a polite failure message.
Reports are available on flights from December 19, 2015, to present,
said James Marks, who leads the FAA's ADS-B Focus Team. Anything
highlighted in red on the six-page report (the last two pages are "intentionally left blank") indicates a parameter that did not meet the corresponding performance requirement. An online user's guide provides
additional information and suggests possible causes for fault indications
that could be starting points for troubleshooting the problem. -MPC
The FAA had a large NextGen display
in its pavilion and employees on hand to
answer questions. It distributed a publication explaining the FAA's $500 ADS-B
Out equipage rebate and extols the benefits
available to GA pilots from ADS-B.
There are steps an aircraft owner can
take before rebate installations become
available, said Alejandro Rodriguez, an
aerospace engineer for the FAA's Avionics
Systems Branch. "Talk to your manufacturers. How do you want to equip? Do you need
[ADS-B-compliant] GPS? Do you want to
go 978 or Mode S?" You'll need to enter the
position source and the ADS-B hardware
when you apply for the rebate, he added.
The rebate application requires entry of
the scheduled installation date, which can
be no more than 90 days out. The owner has
60 days to fly the airplane in airspace with
ADS-B coverage to validate the rebate. More
information on the rebate is available online
(www.faa.gov/nextgen/equipadsb/rebate/).
ADDITIONAL ADS-B BENEFITS

Flight Information Services-Broadcast
(FIS-B, the ADS-B In service that provides
subscription-free aviation weather information to the cockpits of equipped aircraft)
will be gaining some new features soon, said
96 | AOPA PILOT October 2016

Rune Duke, AOPA director of government
affairs for airspace and air traffic. "There are
five new FIS-B products coming out next
year. That includes lightning strikes; you're
going to have icing; you're going to have ceilings; echo tops-so you know where the tops
are-and one-minute AWOS updates."
GA pilots equipped with ADS-B Out are
experiencing better service at many nontowered airports, Duke added. "When you
fly into certain airports, they're going to hold
you-or hold you on the ground-because
that other airplane hasn't canceled [its IFR
flight plan]. Now the controllers can see you,
and they can keep that traffic moving."
Aircraft with WAAS GPS navigation
capabilities can access more than 4,200
WAAS-enabled instrument approach procedures at U.S. airports; nearly 80,000
GA aircraft are equipped to fly those
approaches, according to the FAA. AOPA
EMAIL mike.collins@aopa.org

WEB

See AOPA's online ADS-B resources
(www.aopa.org/adsb) and ADS-B
selection tool (www.aopa.org/
adsbselector).

https://adsbperformance.faa.gov/PAPRRequest.aspx https://adsbperformance.faa.gov/PAPRRequest.aspx http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/equipadsb/rebate/ http://jobs.aopa.org http://www.aopa.org/adsb http://www.aopa.org/adsb http://www.aopa.org/adsbselector http://www.aopa.org/adsbselector

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2016