Now that it’s winding down, we can say it definitively: 2019 had some blockbuster stories, the top ten of which we’ve recognized here. As is always the case in aviation, where nothing except the planes themselves go very fast, many of the stories are high, or low, points in long-running tales while others are encapsulations of movements that have been hinted at before and that arrived fully formed in the past year. All of them, it’s safe to say, have roots in the past along and will surely continue to affect GA, some of them for years or decades to come.
2. ADS-B Is Here
Like it or not, the wait is over, and ADS-B is here, well, in a matter of days anyways. The equipment, which largely replaces the role of radar for the FAA nationwide, is mandated by January 1, 2020, for all planes in the most traveled US airspace. All reports are that many light GA planes are still non-compliant. So the story weâre keeping our eye on for 2020 is what happens when non-ADS-B planes start wandering into ADS-B-only airspace. Something tells us the FAA will let us hear all about it!