FAA Extends ADS-B Mandate To 2040

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Editor’s note: This article was published on April 1, 2018. It is an April Fool’s gag. The FAA is not delaying the January 1, 2020 ADS-B mandate deadline.

Conceding that aircraft owners—and even airlines—aren’t equipping quickly enough with ADS-B, the FAA on Sunday announced that it’s extending the mandate deadline to Jan. 1, 2040. Previously the equipage deadline was 2020.

“Our data shows that the fleet won’t have installation equipage sufficient to make NextGen even marginally operative,” an FAA spokesman said over the weekend. Therefore, the agency will move the deadline to 2040, by which time it expects at least half of owners to have equipped. The agency added that given price trends on ADS-B technology, owners will be able to equip their aircraft with by-then obsolete technology for about 10 percent of current costs.

To encourage equipage, the FAA will offer a second ADS-B rebate similar to the $500 pot-sweetener it announced last year to prime the installation pump. This time, another 20,000 owners will be eligible for the rebate, which the FAA says will be $25. AVweb will have more information on the rebate when it becomes available. However, owners can pre-register for the rebate program at this site.

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