October 17, 2015

Mr. John Collins

4317 Old Saybrook Court

Charlotte, NC 28211

Dear Mr. Collins:

This is in response to your December 15, 2014 letter posted to public Docket No. FAA-2014-

1061 petitioning the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to amend § 91.225 of Title 14, 

Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) to allow aircraft operating within 30 nautical miles of 

an airport listed on Appendix D, Section 1 of this part from the surface up to 10,000 feet 

mean sea level (MSL) to operate without Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast 

(ADS-B) Out equipment.

You contend that under this rule, it is a high cost to equip low performance aircraft that may 

have low economic value, but are already equipped with “Mode A/C transponders” and that 

already operate within the subject airspace. You argue that the inability to operate non-ADSB equipped aircraft in the airspace would have a negative impact on businesses that service 

those aircraft if pilots grounded their aircraft due to costs. You cite the ability of air traffic 

control (ATC) to use secondary surveillance radar information in a “fused” display to provide 

services as a justification for non-equipage.

The issues you raised were addressed in the comment disposition contained in the ADS-B 

Out Performance Requirements To Support Air Traffic Control (ATC) Service final rule (75 

FR 30160). With respect to aircraft that operate within the airspace from surface to 10,000 

feet mean seal level (MSL) within 30 nautical miles of the airports listed in Appendix B, the 

FAA specifically stated in the notice of proposed rulemaking that “this area can experience a 

high volume of aircraft operations and complex transition from the en route environment to 

the terminal environment at the nations' busiest airports. Consequently, we expect ADS-B 

Out to result in better surveillance across a larger area, leading to better ATC situational 

awareness” (72 FR 56947 and 56958). The terminal benefits of NextGen cannot be realized 

if all aircraft in the terminal airspace are not appropriately equipped. 

The FAA anticipates that investment in ADS-B Out equipage will allow easier access to 

regulated airspace. Furthermore, any costs must be balanced against the foundation this 

capability provides in moving toward the NextGen Infrastructure and benefits from its overall 

usage.
2

The FAA will provide ATC separation services for aircraft meeting the minimum ADS-Brequired performance parameters (NACp, NACv, NIC, SDA, and SIL) for airspace subject to 

this rule. If, during flight, an individual aircraft does not meet the minimum ADS–B required 

performance parameters, or in cases where GPS satellite geometries or signal disruptions 

affect the performance of otherwise compliant equipment, then ATC may provide separation 

services using the backup (for example, radar where available). If the ADS-B ground 

infrastructure or a particular broadcast link is out of service, or a sufficient number of aircraft 

cannot meet the minimum required performance for a given airspace and controller workload 

is adversely impacted, ATC will use the backup system to provide ATC separation services 

for all aircraft in that airspace. (See 75 FR 30182.) The FAA explained that this capability is 

intended for use by ATC as a “backup,” and therefore its use is limited, especially due to a 

planned 50 percent reduction in secondary surveillance radars (SSRs), and is not intended for 

use with a large volume of non-ADS-B Out equipped aircraft. 

The FAA has determined that the improved accuracy and update rate afforded by ADS-B is a 

critical segment of the NextGen infrastructure and capabilities in all airspace, and offers the 

opportunity to make the system more efficient. In addition, the rule contains provisions for 

permitting non-equipped aircraft to enter affected airspace.

For the reasons above, we are unable to consider and thereby deny your petition for 

rulemaking in accordance with 14 CFR § 11.73.

Sincerely,

/s/

Jodi S. McCarthy

Director, Airspace Services Air Traffic Organization