The FAA’s proposed rule for drone integration to the NAS includes the possibility that crewed aircraft that don’t have ADS-B will have to give right of way to drones when flying below 400 feet. uAvionix has come up with a simple inexpensive solution that also has safety benefits for glider, paraglider and ultralight pilots that is also anonymous. uAvionix’s Christian Ramsey tells us about the SkyEcho, a portable ADS-B Out/In device that can offer real utility at altitudes also occupied by drones.
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I haven’t watched the video yet, but I had one in my Aeronca Chief until I sold it 5 years ago. And, according to US authorities, it was illegal to operate in the US. I had it for about a year and used it for ‘testing”. Later, the company’s web site said it was not for sale in the US. An unofficial FAA statement was they didn’t see anything wrong with it if I didn’t use it for entering airspace requiring the real deal. Said it was probably an FCC issue. I enjoyed using it ” illegally” for about the year that I did. Figured I’d rather confess later than get hit now.
Ok. Watched the video, which I should have done first. Sounds like nothing has changed. A great little safety device but not legal if you could buy one now. But I will say it worked fine. I could even pull up my flight track on Flight Aware and it provided everything including speed and altitude. I had entered my aircraft ID in it though at the time, which was optional. Of all the bad things we can do, for the safety this provided and no harm done that I and the unofficial FAA statement said, I personally would still be operating it illegally if I was still flying. And if you could buy one. I sold mine on Ebay. Snapped right up.
I think the original was on 1090mhz. Video says this will be a 978Mhz out device, with ADSB-In and Anonymois.
Will it have traffic on 978 and 1090? Will it have full FIS-B reception?
It won’t show up on TCAS and of course many will eschew another soft mandate. The soft body containing vehicle now owing right of way below 400 feet to a drone…
This device sounds good but I’m much more concerned about the, way more numerous, under 250 gram UAVs that will not have ADSB-in rather than the part 108 units. I understand that the <250g units will not be beyond line of sight. Also, while the term "affordable" was used, nowhere is the price mentioned – including on their website.
Six years ago, when I bought mine through one of their distributors, it was right around $600, if I’m remembering correctly.
I greatly resent the FAA’s willingness to cede the safety (if not the “right to life”) of those of us FAA-licensed pilots, flying FAA-legal aircraft, in FAA-legal airspace, to unknown (and often unknowable) people on the ground.
How, exactly, is a UAV operator, especially one operating BVLOS, different from someone with a .30-06 firing into the air? Post-facto analysis of the wreckage might indicate the criminal perpetrator in the case of a firearm. But the FAA wants promulgate rules that give drone operators of all ages, a pass that hunters do not get.
This is unconscionable and must be stopped, with prejudice.
I’m with with Aviatrexx. <250 g drones aren’t toys, they’re legally irresponsible missiles that can shred a rotor blade, windshield, or tail boom. The FAA treats them as harmless, but handing our safety to untrained, untracked operators is reckless, and lobbyist-driven, not safety-driven.
ADS-B doesn’t fix it. You can squawk all day, they’re deaf. The hole is regulatory: millions of drones with no Remote ID, no training, no accountability.
And the rule-writers? No skin in the game.
The solution is maximum protection: one set of rules for everyone in the air. No exceptions.
The floor cleaner robot at the big box store can’t hit me.
The Waymo cab can’t hit me.
The BVLOS UAV can hit me.
And it’s my fault.
This is not about flight under 400′ AGL, at all, now is it?
Follow the money. This is the air taxi picking up or dropping off your neighbor at 3am. It’s about the 500# UAV launching and recovering off the delivery truck roof most efficiently as the make both their routes.
Too simple to just look at 400′ as crop dusters, paramotors and air ambulances’ more common domain.
Since this is a multiday ad for uAvionix SkyEchos, why doesn’t UAV V.C. just hand them out in exchange for bending to giving right of way to UAVs?
I had a hard time making out the big word they are using. It appears to be “conspicuity”, which means, being conspicuous or easy to see.
Ah yes, conspicuity. Classic Bertorelli, why say plain old ‘visibility’ when you can haul out a word with enough syllables to need its own landing clearance? The man never misses a chance to gild the prose with a little high-falutin flourish.