Also if this impacted VFR, I’m sure the LAA, BMAA, BGA and all the other ‘grass roots’ groups would be descending on Gatwick with pitchforks at this moment.
This would be a great safety enhancing measure. There is a reason US has gone this way. The technology is cheap if EASA is willing to allow installation of beacons similar to the ones used in the US.
Contrary to popular opinion, I really hope this becomes mandatory sooner than later.
No need to worry, UK is special case and will always have exceptions for stuff like that.
Actually most of S Europe is Mode S exempted.
My take on the OP is that it may well be a real regulation, but the raft of national exemptions (below 5.7T etc) makes it meaningless.
Dimme wrote:
I really hope this becomes mandatory sooner than later.
But only if it includes ADS-B out. Bare mode-S is extremely expensive to receive in flight by other light aircraft (I think Peter’s kit cost upward of £15k to install), but ADS-B is cheap to receive (a phone/tablet and receiver combo for less than £300)
Yes, I was referring to ADS-B out.
£13k or so, but you can do the Lynx for less. Still, too pricey for most people, but an active TAS/TCAS1 is the only box which picks up the by far most common emitter. It doesn’t pick up Mode S BTW. Well maybe it uses something if it has it, but good old Mode C is all it needs.
Mandatory certified ADS-B OUT would be good but, hey, so many previous threads on this, the SIL value inter-operability, privacy, etc 
Don’t forget that a Mode C aircraft is much less likely to get busted (if not talking to ATC) because the tail number is not radiated. They have to track you back to your destination and then make enquiries. But you still get a working anticollision system. With ADS-B you radiate everything. This stupid new CAA “bust them all” policy may be a factor in delaying any progress in the UK.
If you’re already Mode S, then adding ADSB out, doesn’t increased your likelyness to get busted but may add some safety.
That’s correct.
However, to get a fairly universal “TCAS” benefit from ADS-B the emitter has to be certified, otherwise it will show up only on uncertified receivers, which for the most part don’t feed into any warning system (you have to keep staring at the Ipad while flying).
Mandating certified ADS-B OUT is what the US has done (in mandatory-transponder areas, basically, AIUI) and that is the smart way to do this if you want universally working conspicuity, but this is not what will “ever” happen in Europe. We will be for ever in the world of “velcro gadget land”.
It will be like Mode S; those who want to fly IFR or through some CAS will need it and the rest don’t need to have it. Since you can now buy avionics on US Ebay and get them installed without an EASA-1 form, I predict a steady demand for Mode C replacements for ever
