AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2019 - 84

P&E

ADS-B

ADAPTing to 2020
Exemption system not elegant, but efficient
BY MIKE COLLINS

84 | AOPA PILOT December 2019

Maybe not, if you have an operational
transponder. You will be able to request
an airspace authorization from the FAA
through a website, at least one hour but not
more than 24 hours in advance. The first
information about the process was published April 1 in the Federal Register (see
"ADS-B: Starting in January," June 2019
AOPA Pilot). Although the FAA's policy for
non-ADS-B-equipped aircraft primarily
affects scheduled operators-who should
not expect access to rule airspace-it also
addresses general aviation operations.
Don't call the ATC facility and ask, and
don't ask a controller for access over the
radio; the answer will be "no."
Only if ADS-B Out equipment fails
in flight will controllers be able to issue
an airspace authorization to an airborne
aircraft, said Rune Duke, AOPA senior
director of airspace and air traffic.
After testing the online authorization
website in early October, AOPA knows

Don't call the ATC
facility and ask, and
don't ask a controller
for access over the
radio; the answer will
be "no."
aviation aircraft employ WAAS-compatible
ADS-B position sources, which automatically address GPS integrity, so this step isn't
a separate part of the process-but you'll
find that it happens in the background.
Select the ADAPT flight information
entry form (it looks exactly like the SAPT

MIKE COLLINS

WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT the approaching ADS-B Out mandate for years, and the
FAA's equipage mandate is just over the
horizon. ADS-B uses satellites instead
of ground-based radar to determine aircraft location, and is a key technology
behind the FAA's Next Generation Air
Transportation System. The FAA has
mandated ADS-B Out for flights after
January 1, 2020, generally in airspace
where a transponder is required today.
Let's fast-forward to January 2, 2020,
or any day after that. Your aircraft is not
equipped with ADS-B Out, and you need to
fly into airspace defined by FAR 91.225-let's
call it ADS-B rule airspace-for whatever
reason. Maybe you've decided to equip and
need to get your airplane to the avionics
shop; perhaps your aircraft has been down
for a long-term refurbishment, or you need
to make an unexpected flight to a Class C
airport for work or a family emergency. Are
you shut out of the airspace?

more about how the process will work;
and although a few details could change,
the process appears rather complete.
The FAA developed an automation
capability to manage ATC authorization
requests by modifying an existing online
resource, the Service Availability
Prediction Tool (SAPT). This resulted
in the ADS-B Deviation Authorization
Preflight Tool as well as another acronym,
ADAPT. It may not be the most elegant
solution, but it works-and few pilots
should find themselves using it more than
a few times. Hint: Find and download
AOPA's ADAPT Fact Sheet, which will be
available online before the end of the year,
and follow its instructions.
"This is a fast-track response to what the
operators want," explained Jeff Weaver of the
FAA's Surveillance and Broadcast Services
program. "We've been working on it since
the government shutdown in February."
SAPT was created for operators to verify GPS availability before the Wide Area
Augmentation System enhanced performance, and must be used by commercial
operators flying under time-limited 12555
exemptions, who must verify GPS coverage before every flight. Almost all general
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2019

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