Airservices thanks industry as ADS-B mandate approaches

Airservices has thanked aircraft operators who have fitted their aircraft with satellite technology that improves safety and efficiency ahead of mandates set by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) equipped aircraft transmit GPS satellite data to a ground station twice every second allowing aircraft to be accurately tracked by air traffic controllers in areas where there is no radar coverage.

With less than one year to go before all instrument flight rule (IFR) aircraft must be fitted with ADS-B, Airservices Executive General Manager Air Traffic Control, Greg Hood, thanked the Australian aviation industry for their commitment to the technology.

“ADS-B is the future of air traffic surveillance in Australia and around the world,” Mr Hood said.

“I would like to congratulate and thank all operators that have already fitted their aircraft with ADS-B and remind every IFR operator to make sure they get fitted before 2 February 2017.”

There are around 1300 aircraft that still need to be fitted in Australia prior to the 2017 mandate as well as about 60 per cent of Australia’s IFR helicopter fleet.

Airservices has long been a leader in investing in new technology to improve the efficiency and increase the safety for our airspace users and Australia was the first country in the world to commission a continent-wide ADS-B surveillance network in 2009.

More than 72 per cent of flights in Australia’s airspace are already seeing the benefits ADS-B offers, including the radar-like surveillance when flying outside of conventional radar coverage.

Since 12 December 2013, IFR aircraft flying at and above 29 000 feet have been required to use ADS-B. More than 99 per cent of commercial flights in Australia now use the technology.

For more information on ADS-B, visit www.airservicesaustralia.com/projects/ads-b