It is interesting if you dig down a bit into the tragic accident involving the Army Blackhawk Helicopter and a commercial airliner in Washington, D.C. One of the factors under investigation is whether the ADS-B system on the helicopter was turned off. The ADS-B transponder system provides an accurate aircraft location for tracking purposes. Know that a July, 2019, rule change allowed the ADS-B system to be turned off for military aircraft. From the July 18, 2019, Federal Register: “This rulemaking provides an exception to ADS–B requirements, removing the transmission requirement for sensitive operations conducted by Federal, State and local government entities in matters of national defense, homeland security, intelligence and law enforcement.” Additionally, “this rulemaking also allows the FAA to except certain aircraft from operating a transponder or transmitting ADS–B Out, when doing so would jeopardize Air Traffic Control (ATC) functions.” It calls into question what the purpose of the “training flight” actually may have been, given that training flights do not to appear to be excepted/exempted from ADS-B use. Furthermore, a provision in the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act also prevents the Federal Aviation Administration from mandating ADS-B installations on certain Department of Defense aircraft altogether. Feel free to thank the president for signing that into law during his first term. We should all be concerned about how many more lives may be put at risk from his more recent actions, or lack thereof.

Don Cavallaro

Rye