OK, nearly end of summer

Yes, I think G read all my posts, and got to work.  :-(

In general G has been very busy adding IFD features into their boxes. The biggie differences that will likely never change though, is their inefficient MENU key based structure, that is heavily tied to the touchscreen alone. There is also the bizarre 650 input "keyboard".

Ironically, G users should be pretty thankful for A.

 

* Orest

TAS is way cool in many parts of the world, including for my mission profile, but it would be a much harder sell in the US these days.

But regardless, I really don't see any sales linkage between the TAS units (A or otherwise) and the IFDs, at all. You can get an A or G traffic unit combined with an IFD or GTN (ugh) unit. Makes no difference.

SA cannot provide navdata, only charts. Most folks don't use the chart subscription anyway. There are so many other things that would be better to spend time on, that would serve more people.

Without question the TAS-A release is way overdue, embarrassingly so. But it adds only a little to the function of the non-A TAS unit, so personally I'm not really fussing about it. 

I have no reason to think that 10.2.1 won't be released in the near term, but I am absolutely certain that projected dates will NOT be announced. We'll find out about it when it is available to dealers. And even without 10.2.1, my IFD remains a stellar unit, by far the best FMS/GPS available out there, so personally I'm not fussing much about that either.

Avidyne used to discuss project time lines and dates, and that was great, but a few folks gave them a black eye over slipping dates, and I don't blame them for clamming up now -- like the rest of the industry.

* Orest

I also think everyone should have a working radio, at least a handheld one. I witnessed a near collision at a very busy local airport (before they added a control tower), because someone with a god given right to fly without talking on the radio decided to use the cross runway closer to his parking space rather than the fairly busy runway that also favored the wind. There are few airports near me that I think could justify not having communication with the rest of the people using that airport. Things are crowded enough that basic safety devices should be required.

glassanza wrote: I too agree with Catani regarding this issue, with more and more things aloft these days I would like the opportunity to see as many of them as possible.

Funny, but as I have debated the "ins and outs' of ADSB, I've kind of come full circle.

I really hate the fact that it is an incomplete solution in the US, the reasons for which I've stated before, ad nausea.

I've put 100 hours on my plane this year and always use Flight Following when VFR.  Last weekend I flew to a non-towered airport with a diner on the field for breakfast, just about 100 miles from my backyard private strip.  A very nice clear blue day with little to no haze. While in route ATC called out three aircraft that I never did see - I have a heck of time finding targets against a backdrop of planet earth - the higher ones, usually not a problem.  While there eating breakfast I saw many types of aircraft ranging from home built and Carbon Cubs through Bonanzas, coming and going.  I guess I was the only light twin that day.  On the way back home I didn't use FF but saw several aircraft approaching the airport as I was departing - most seemed to be making appropriate radio calls with position reports as far as ten miles out but the ones I actually saw were not until they were very close.  It's the ones you never see that make you nervous.

Well, I'm not sure what any of that means but I'm now pretty firmly in the camp of wanting any help I can get with traffic awareness - it sure would be nice if all aircraft operating from public use airports or in class E or greater airspace were required to be equipped with at least ADSB-out so I wouldn't feel like I was throwing money at an incomplete traffic awareness solution.  One thing last weekend proved to me was that it is in fact a crowded sky, even in the middle of nowhere at low altitudes. And for those that disagree or don't like to make radio calls at non-towered airports, check six Ivan! :)

  

 

  

I think every aircraft and drone should be required to have on board a box that responds to ADS-B and/or Mode C transponder interrogations.

The customer deliverable is a usable function, not a piece of hardware that can't be used because the package (i.e. product) hasn't been completed. That hardware has apparently been part of boxes for several years, so its presence doesn't really mean anything to customers. It might never be used and the finished product might never be released.

My understanding is that there isn't any -A upgrade.... that's what started this thread. That kind of makes the price irrelevant, except for those that paid for it up front x years ago.

The UK is looking to get ADS-B out into everything, from RadioShack Drones to A380s.

Our CAA is proactively developing a box the size of a cigarette pack, with long rechargeable battery life that can sit in a parascender's top pocket, costing $300, which will squit your ADS-B position and push targets onto your iPad moving map.  I saw the first delivery of prototypes today.

There is a chip the size of a SIM card which will do the ADS-B out for a toy drone.

They are also negotiating ADS-B in weather and traffic broadcasts as a come-on to encourage people to equip.  

Furthermore, to repeat myself again, we do not have TMA services for most flights outside controlled airspace.  We have a sort of service around London from Farnborough, but it gets completely overwhelmed on a sunny weekend.  Some military aerodromes and a few civil airports provide what is called a Lower Airspace Radar service, but, as we know from your President, Kim Jong Un is too short and fat to start a war on a weekend, so our Air Force goes home and plays golf, meaning no radar service at weekends when most GA is out and about.

So the situation here is not as you characterise it there.  We need to be thinking about ADS-B in capability.  I did that.  I paid my money.  I chose Avidyne over Garmin based on their promises.  I didn't know then that Avidyne promises are worthless.  I do now.

When neither Collision Avoidance nor Traffic Avoidance is an issue, then Situational Awareness comes in.  "There are a lot of people ahead of me heading in towards my destination, maybe I'll slow down a bit."

When that is not an issue either, and you are sitting, fat, dumb, happy and a little bored on an IFR route, it is also fun to watch the airliners and see more information about them, but, as far as I am concerned that is just frippery.

If you can't see the traffic visually, having a display enhances your chances of avoiding a midair collision.

Well, I was talking about using ADSB to avoid a collision, in which case taking time to note the type and registration number after receiving an alert is obviously counterproductive.

Over on this side of the pond, if you are flying in the clouds you are on an IFR flight plan and receiving traffic separation services from ATC, in which case ADSB-in is not only redundant but also distracting and unnecessary.