Why not have a networked GPS based map on every aircraft?

[conchman]

With the rise of the popularity in drone use, combined with existing helicopter and airplane traffic, wouldn't it make most sense to have a GPS based networked map system where every aircraft operator can see every other aircraft within a few miles, potentially upgraded with automatic alarms or notifications, when two targets are at a collision course, using altitude, speed, direction, type of aircraft, etc? I know there is no standardization in GPS maps, but I think that day will come one day. I can see the downside and benefits of such a system, but I would like to hear your comments. Thanks.

 

[ovisopa]

It's called ADS-B, every line aircraft has an ADS-B transeiver, and with a cheap $5 USB TV dongle (with an RTL-2832 chipset) you can build your own radar and see "every aircraft" around you, even with the small dongle antenna you can see aircrafts from 300km away. But Even on aircrafts it's not mandatory, not all airplanes have the ADS-B transponder, the small ones especially don't have one, I also didn't see on my "radar" any helicopter with the ADS-B transponder active, probably most helicopters don;t have one.

There are small ADS-B transceivers for drones, small enough to carry on every drone (20 grams for a transceiver or 5 grams for a receiver only) but there is no regulation, it's not something mandatory, so most of drone pilots won't spend the extra money to buy one, I also won;t bother buying one as anyway, at least in my country I don't get a written permission to fly above 100m, and if I fly without permission I do it carefully, using a radio scanner to be sure there is no helicopter aproaching, my city has an international airport, so any helicopter approaching it will call the tower when they are quite far away, about 30km from the airport. Using a Radio Shack Scanner that can tune to the local airport frequency you can listen to any conversation between pilots and ATC

PS. Flightradar24 app is the quick alternative if you want to skip "building" your own radar (but you need an internet connection). And LiveATC is the other alternative if you don't want to buy a Radio Scanner, also LiveATC needs an internet connection.

 

[BD0G]

Could you imagine "false positives" and the evasive action that pilots would have to take on a regular basis?

 

[ovisopa]

A transceiver should not be used by anyone with an unregistered drone, but anyway I'm sure nobody will want to install such an device if they know they are interfering with airplanes, it's like you call the ATC and tell them .. hey, I'm flying my drone in your airspace, and also tell them your exact location. Nobody will use such an device unless this will become mandatory on all drones,
or
unless someone has an registered drone and want to be as safe and legal as possible, in those cases if he will receive permission to fly above 100m (this is the limit in my country) that airspace will be temporary reserved for that drone pilot. So he will not interfere with anyone, but it's not likely to receive such an permission, to fly a drone above 100m.

The procedure in Romania is very complicated, as it's based on very old rules/legislation. For me as pilot of an registered drone, it's quite annoying because to make a perfectly legal flight with my drone, no matter the altitude I'm flying (10m or 99m) I need to make those steps:
1. 30 days before the flight window I need to send an email to CAA (the same as FAA in US) with the coordinates I want to fly and the altitude.
2. If they approve my flight I have a 1 month window to fly at that location.
3. One day before the flight I need to call the local aviation authority and tell them I want to fly the next day at xx hour, and I have the written permission No. xxxx from CAA
If they also approve it, the area I initially wanted to fly in will be highlighted in the national map of aviation airspace

 

[tcope]

Are drones vs planes a real issue? How many manned aircraft have actually hit drones? How many people have been killed by these collisions? Keep in mind, planes hit things all day and every day without real issues.

Of those collisions that occur, how may were with drones that would meet your criteria for having some type of broadcast system installed? That is, people build drones all of the time. People also fly illegally all of the time.

 

[BD0G]

Note to self: Dont move to Romania if I want to keep flying my Mavic !

 

[ovisopa]

Note to self: Don't move to Romania if I want to keep flying my Mavic !

) I didn't registered my Mavic, I fly it without registering and getting permissions to fly, I do as everybody does as Mavic is just for fun.
I have my Inspire 1 registered and some of the flights I do with it, are made only after the permission is granted. Just to understand how strict the legislation is (because was not updated yet for the new type of drones on the market in the last 10 years), in my city, because we have the Airport literally in the city (at one side) we can't fly it because the CTR is extended beyond the city, now 2 years ago the CTR was reduced from a circle around airport with a radius of 30km! To linear CTR, but even now on the sides of the runaway it's 5 km, and 25km on the landing/takeoff direction. So legally you can't fly in my city, no matter what. Everybody does it without permissions, I just tried to be as legal as possible , but until the legislation will be updated it's almost impossible