I want to petition the FAA to modify the ADS-B OUT mandate for VFR operations. I want them to approve the use of hand-held or portable ADS-B OUT devices for VFR use. Current law requires permanent installation of expensive IFR Certified ADS-B equipment costing several thousand dollars per aircraft by 2020. Changing the law would dramatically reduce the cost of compliance for VFR aircraft making our airways safer for everyone.

Each of these devices would be FAA registered to an owner, with an owner-user profile allowing up to 4 users and 8 aircraft per device. These profiles would allow single or multiple pilots to operate single or multiple airplanes during a 24-hour active period, one at a time. The owner would set up the profile with the FAA and specify the pilot-users associated with the device. The pilot-users would then be able to add or remove aircraft to the profile list as needed. The owner of the device would be copied on profile changes via email.

An owner-user-aircraft 24-hour profile would be activated before the first flight of the day during the FAA preflight briefing by telephone. The user would activate the aircraft(s) in use and identify which pilots would be flying during the day. The 24 hour profile could be one pilot and one aircraft or it could indicate multiple aircraft-pilot combinations to be in use during the day.

Here is an example.Adam and Betty are both VFR pilots and own a '66 Piper Cherokee N111 and he and Betty fly that airplane regularly, sometimes on day trips together. Adam also owns a '48 Cessna 140 N222 on floats that he uses during the summer for fishing. Adam owns one ADS-B OUT device that he and Betty use for both planes. Charlie also owns a Cessna 140 taildragger like Adam's and asks if Adam and Bette will take his plane 60 miles and drop it off to have the avionics worked on. All three pilots have taildragger endorsements. Charlie leaves his portable ADS-B OUT device in N333 for Adam's use and adds Adam and Betty to his user profile. At 8PM the evening before the flight Adam Calls the FAA Flight Briefer and activates his ADS-B out profile for himself and Bette for both N111 and N333. He also acitvates Charlie's ADS-B OUT device for both N333 and N111 and himself and Bette. So now both ADS-B devices are active for both airplanes and both pilots for 24 hours. How the flights progress is up to them. They might pick up N333 then fly to lunch and switch pilots. That way both get to log taildragger landings. Each device should be able to read their own transponder returns so if they wanted ATC radar services they could do that. The portable ADS-B OUT device profile registry combined with the FAA N-Number database should be enough to satisfy security requirements for this program. Portable ADS-B OUT devices for VFR use should be inexpensive and flexible to support the wide variations in in VFR flying practices.