JohnLietzke
Captain
Flight distance : 3125968 ft
United States
Offline
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Mike-the-cat Posted at 2019-1-25 22:35
I was thinking along the lines that if we fitted our craft with such, the naysayers would have less reason to object to flying in areas where light aircraft / choppers were there first and want us out.
Transponder rather than receiver would be more appropriate in this setting.
I am in the US where ADS-B is being more aggressively being implemented on small, personal and private aircraft. All commercial aircraft are already required to have it. It is really a great feature and saved me one time when a low flying personal plane was flying very low with authorization along the Surfline in San Diego. The areas I fly in predominately require all aircraft, with the exception of military ,to have ADS-B.
Commercial aircraft have never given a relevant warning where there was any potential safety issue due to the altitude which they operate at after takeoff. It is the small, private and personal planes and helicopter that seem to be the most significant risk factors. Medical helicopters and amateur pilots are by far the worst and most dangerous. According to the FAA over half the private, small and personal aircraft have already been retrofitted with the feature.
All that being said, I think it is absolutely useless in countries where it is not required for small aircraft. They in my opinion and experience pose the greatest risk to drones fliers. In the EU they are still working on getting commercial passenger planes retrofitted and have extended the mandatory implementation date out 3 years.
I read an article from the FAA discussing the transponder/ADS-B Out idea for drones. The rational on not requiring drones to have this technology was based on two main concepts. UAVs are required to make way for manned aircraft and that the range of the ADS-B transponder would give pilots too many warning of other irrelevant aircraft which would be distracting. There was also significant discussion of reducing the signal power for ADS-B Out transponders on drones to prevent air to air collision of automated and piloted drones. But it would ultimately require Federal legislation to create a new standard for signal power and range.
From the laws and regulations being proposed and passed around the world it appears the FAA's philosophy greatly differs from the rest of the world. In the United States, the FAA and legislation seem to encourage responsible drone use and place an onus of responsibility on the operator. While the EU seems to want to prevent drone use even going so far as to retroactively restrict existing drones which meet the standards at the time of sale. |
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