Nav Canada delays ADS-B mandate

Over the past few months, AOPA and a coalition of industry leaders from Canada and the United States submitted comments to Transport Canada, citing supply chain issues, as well as concerns that the upcoming mandate would cause financial hardship to aircraft owners who recently equipped their aircraft to meet U.S. ADS-B requirements.

The first phase of the mandate, for Canadian Class A and B airspace, was originally set to take effect February 23, 2023, requiring aircraft to be equipped with an appropriate 1090ES ADS-B Out transponder as well as antennas capable of broadcasting toward space-based ADS-B receivers. Technical requirements can be found here. In a letter to stakeholders, Ben Girard, Nav Canada vice president and chief of operations, said, "We recognize that supply chain issues may be impacting some of our customers in terms of their ability to acquire and install an appropriate ADS-B Out equipment in a timely fashion. In recognition of the challenges that these customers are facing, the Canadian equipage mandate will be delayed to provide additional time to install an appropriate transponder."

"While we are gratified to see this delay, additional coordination between Transport Canada and the aviation industry is needed to minimize the impact of the Canadian mandate on general aviation," said Jim McClay, AOPA director of airspace, air traffic, and security. He added that questions still remain about the degree to which space-based ADS-B capabilities are needed in Class C and D airspace as well as concerns about the enormous costs involved with installing new transponders and antennas.

The new mandate effective dates are August 10, 2023, for Class A airspace and May 16, 2024, for Class B airspace.

"At this time, NAV CANADA remains focused on preparations for the Class A and B mandates," Girard wrote. "However, we recognize that some customers who do not operate in these classes of airspace and are not impacted by the Class A/B mandate are apprehensive of future requirements in additional classes (C, D and E) of airspace."

Girard continued, "We can confirm that how and where implementation of potential changes to transponder requirements in these classes of airspace remains to be defined and will occur no sooner than 2026, following meaningful stakeholder engagement. We anticipate beginning early engagement with key stakeholders as soon as Fall 2022."