4 April 2019
Pilots flying in to Friedrichshafen for the AERO show at the airport from 10-12 April will be able to receive weather information via datalink if their aircraft is equipped with ADS-B equipment.
The datalink is a technology demo by Garmin. Using a ground-based Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) comprised of Garmin hardware at the EDNY airport, weather information is broadcast. The test is expected to run until the end of the year.
“Based on the success of datalink weather in the United States, we are excited to demonstrate affordable datalink weather in Germany and look forward to evaluating the feasibility of this technology in Europe,” said Carl Wolf, vice president of aviation sales and marketing.
“We would like to extend our appreciation to the German licensing agencies, as well as airplus maintenance for hosting the station and embracing this technology as we collectively aim to provide pilots with better tools that can aid and improve in-flight decision-making.”
Weather products accessible through this ground station include radar imagery, METARs, TAFs, lightning, icing and winds aloft.
Pilots can expect to receive weather up to 50nm away from the ground station located at Friedrichshafen Airport (EDNY) and weather products will display within a 250nm coverage area.
Reception is also dependent upon line of sight. Through this, Garmin aims to demonstrate the advantages of widely available datalink weather for aircraft operators in Europe.
Dr Michael Erb, senior vice president of AOPA Europe, said, “AOPA Germany welcomes Garmin’s efforts in Europe.
“It is obvious that safety in General Aviation should increase if pilots have access to weather information in their cockpits.
“We know that it has been a significant effort to work in cooperation with the authorities to make the frequencies available, and Garmin has done a great job of explaining the safety case behind it and has succeeded.”
Garmin explained that the system architecture leverages the US-defined FIS-B datalink using UAT technology. Garmin has flight tested the reception of these weather products in a Cessna 182 equipped with a GTX 345 ADS-B transponder, GTN 650/750 navigators, G500 TXi flight display, aera 660/795/796 GPS portables, the GDL 50 portable ADS-B receiver and the Garmin Pilot app on Apple mobile devices. Garmin expects compatibility with additional UAT-based receivers and displays.
Pilots who fly into AERO Friedrichshafen and use the new datalink weather products are encouraged to provide feedback at the Garmin stand (Hall A6 or online: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/UATfeedback
