Dave K wrote:
Hope I wasn't misunderstood....
Not saying the iFly is inadequate in any way.....and I agree with Cobra....the iFly team is leading the way.
While technically ADS-B "will" provide better traffic, it's not ready for prime time. As the nextgen rollout continues it will undoubtably become the best option (until it becomes mandatory). For now, TIS does work very well (not perfect). I don't know the technical aspects but I see the targets, a line showing their direction, and it's altitude relative to mine (+ or - feet). 8 targets is more than enough...i think if i saw more i would suspect an envasion :-) I would guess that I'm seeing 95+ % of the traffic (as long as TIS is available). It's a tremendous asset when arriving at a busy, uncontrolled airport.
The basic point is I believe anyone looking for traffic avoidance should not consider any ADS-B (in only) unit. This is not an iFly issue but a ADS-B unit issue. Once we have a in - out option all bets are off.
I think I am the one who is misunderstood.
I agree completely that:
- ADS-B in without ADS-B out is unreliable for traffic purposes, and never really will be.
- TIS works fine for areas where coverage is present.
However, I do think that ADS-B is ready for primetime. Let's take a look at the coverage:
I agree completely that the coverage is increasing every day. In fact, the graphic above is nearly a year old. But ADS-B coverage is already far better than the meager coverage of TIS (you can see it here: http://www8.garmin.com/aviation/graphics/tismap.gif). So while I certainly would not go our of my way to remove a TIS device, I certainly would not install a new one today. My point is not to dig on TIS. Rather, it is to point out that ADS-B is already a much better TIS that TIS (perhaps that is why they call it TIS-B ). As such, I am hoping that Adventure Pilot continues to increase their investment in this area in the next release rather than 2020.
Regards,
Neal