China Looks At ADS-B
After spending millions of dollars in the Alaska Capstone project proving that Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast systems keep order in the air in the absence of radar, the U.S.-taxpayer-driven project is about to pay dividends — in China. It appears the world’s biggest emerging economic powerhouse is prepared to take a giant technological leap over complex maintenance and labor-intensive ground-based navigation systems and go straight to ADS-B for managing its burgeoning GA numbers. And it will be an American company showing them how, at least in the early stages.

After spending millions of dollars in the Alaska Capstone project proving that Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast systems keep order in the air in the absence of radar, the U.S.-taxpayer-driven project is about to pay dividends -- in China. It appears the world's biggest emerging economic powerhouse is prepared to take a giant technological leap over complex maintenance and labor-intensive ground-based navigation systems and go straight to ADS-B for managing its burgeoning GA numbers. And it will be an American company showing them how, at least in the early stages. ADS-B Technologies, of Anchorage, has signed a $2 million deal to equip 160 light aircraft (a significant percentage of China's current GA fleet) and build six ground stations at China's Civil Aviation University. ADS-B Technologies President Skip Nelson said China was an obvious market because it wants to rapidly expand private and business aviation but has hardly any navigation infrastructure. "It's essentially a blank sheet of paper in terms of western-style air-traffic control," Nelson said. In the Capstone project, the FAA paid for installation of ADS-B equipment in aircraft and on the ground as a means of cutting Alaska's high accident rate. Accident numbers have dropped substantially for Capstone-equipped operators.
