The FAA has mandated that every airplane flying in the US in controlled airspace as of January 1, 2020 must be equipped with ADS-B Out. ADS-B is based on ground station technology which is 20 years old. The FAA has always complained that ground based VOR’s were too expensive to maintain. In their infinite wisdom the FAA has based the future on ground stations again. There are some 600 of these ground stations installed but the FAA blew the coverage and has now decided they have to install another 200 more ground stations to get complete coverage. The program could have been aborted many years ago and proceeded with satellite coverage. The FAA could have bought out XM and had the coverage they needed for a minuscule cost of what they have spent on ground stations. I have no idea how much it will cost to maintain this ground based system.
AOPA has stated that there are approximately 180,000 airplanes in the fleet. 88,000 of these are worth around $30,000. The least expensive cost solution today to have ABS-B Out installed is approximately $7,500. This is over 20% of the value of 88,000 airplanes.
There is no perceived value to GA of ADS-B Out other than being able to see traffic on an IPad type device if your plane is equipped with ADS-B In. In addition you are still required to have a transponder so airline traffic can see you on TCAS. AOPA and EAA are trying to get the FAA to back off their 2020 mandate. The FAA is not backing down. The only solution is to have AOPA and EAA go to Congress to have the mandate deleted until a more cost effective solution can be reached, or there will be a lot of planes grounded.
The FAA cannot reach a solution on 3rd class medicals and drone airspace. In my regard this organization is so inefficient that they are unable to accomplish anything successfully and cost effective.
If the FAA goal is to abolish GA then they are doing an excellent job. Some 4000 airports will become abandoned, and the economy will deeply damaged.
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