One-third of the members of the Piper Owner Society have not yet upgraded their plane to ADS-B Out but plan to in the next 18 months, according to a survey conducted earlier this week.

With well over 1,000 replies, the survey showed that roughly 56% of plane owners have upgraded, with most spending between $2,500 and $5,000 on the project. Slightly fewer spent $5,000 or more, and roughly 10% accomplished it for less than $2,500.

Among those who plan to upgrade, most expect to accomplish it for $2,500 or less. Ten percent of respondents said they’re not going to upgrade, for four different reasons.

Detailed results.

Among those who are not upgrading, the primary reason was that they don’t need to. ADS-B Out is not necessary in all airspaces. From https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/adsb/faq/

Under the rule, ADS-B Out performance will be required to operate in:

  1. Class A, B, and C airspace.
  2. Class E airspace within the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia at and above 10,000 feet MSL, excluding the airspace at and below 2,500 feet above the surface.
  3. Class E airspace at and above 3,000 feet MSL over the Gulf of Mexico from the coastline of the United States out to 12 nautical miles.
  4. Around those airports identified in 14 CFR part 91, Appendix D.
    The ADS-B Out rule does not apply in the airspace defined in items 2 and 4 above for any aircraft not originally certificated with an electrical system or that has not subsequently been certified with such a system installed, including balloons and gliders. For additional requirements for using the exception for item 4, please refer to CFR 91.225 section (d) for the requirements.

Among those who aren’t upgrading, this chart shows the reason.

What They Spent

Among those who have upgraded already, 90% spent more than $2,500 and 41% spent more than $5,000.

Here’s what people who’ve upgraded say they spent.

What They Expect to Spend

Interestingly, and perhaps expectedly, the pilots who have waited to upgrade expect to spend less, which could be the reason they waited, or could be because cheaper options have become available in the past few months to a year.

Piper Owner Society forum moderator Scott Sherer is working on an article for the October issue of Pipers Magazine detailing the options for plane owners who are just getting started with this process.

“December, 2020 is coming fast for the 1/3 of our members still needing to install ADS-B Out,” Sherer said. “Prices have come down and there’s a new product or two on the market making it easier than ever to meet the FAA ADS-B mandate. Better get a date with your shop; they may have a one-year or greater lead-time for ADS-B installations. For those of you that have ADS-B Out and In installed: How did we ever live without it?“