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Congratulations Kelsey on your Instrument Rating!
Congratulations Kelsey on your Instrument Rating!
(208)
860-7283 or 860-3367
ADS-B? What is all this about?
ADS-B (out, and sometimes in) is the outcome of what started as Project Capstone in Alaska, many years ago. They realized that traffic was impossible to track in their remote areas, and when an aircraft went down, it was all but impossible to find them. So they decided to design a national flight following system which could use the GPS system to help track aircraft in flight.
You are likely familiar with what a Transponder is - that is the unit in the panel which 'answers' interrogations from the ground based units. Transponders are what you hear the talking heads on TV talking about when they discuss missing airplanes; how the aircraft 'went off the radar screen'. Transponders are great, but they are very limited in their usefulness once you get a few hundred miles from the ground based antennas. So the FAA has now implemented ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) There are two versions of how ADS-B will work for you - the one which is required is ADS-B 'out', meaning it will send out a signal for use in the system. ADS-B 'in' is capable of not only sending the 'out' signal, but will also provide you with an 'in' signal, showing you the aircraft nearby. This is done in a couple ways, either on a panel mounted screen, or on an iPad with ForeFlight running. There was a January 1, 2020 mandate for all aircraft that would fly into certain airspace be equipped with ADS-B, and in 2019 we finalized the equipping of all our planes. We are not only set up with the mandatory ADS-B 'out', but also the ADS-B 'in', allowing you to see traffic (and weather) right on the GPS screen.
(*Remember that weather always has a delay, NEVER try to skirt a storm by using data on your screen. This WILL be several minutes outdated, and potentially dangerous.)
So click on the links below if you would like to understand what ADS-B is all about.
BUT REMEMBER: Nothing will replace LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW
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