At the committee hearing focused on the benefits available to general aviation through the FAAs NextGen air traffic modernization program, Huerta encouraged GA pilots to equip before the Jan. 1, 2020 mandate, the date by which all aircraft flying in controlled airspace in the U.S. must be equipped with ADS-B avionics. Huerta explained that many GA pilots are already equipping their aircraft to take advantage of the safety and efficiency benefits. 

In addition, the FAA continues to roll out the capability to provide air traffic controllers with real-time ADS-B position information that is more accurate than the information available with current radar-based systems. 

The GA community in Alaska was the first place the FAA unveiled ADS-B more than 10 years ago. That community was selected because GA aircraft play critical roles as ambulances, school buses, ferrying supplies, etc. in serving remote, mountainous communities that lack radar coverage and are often only accessible by air. The benefits delivered from the significantly improved situational awareness for pilots, especially in bad weather, were dramatic: the accident rate for ADS-B-equipped aircraft was reduced by nearly half in Southwest Alaska. 

ADS-B is not the only GPS-based, NextGen technology available to GA pilots. For more than a decade, the FAA has been publishing Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) approach procedures at airports that do not have ground-based navigational aids. This means GA pilots may fly into airports in poor weather conditions with minimums as low as 200 feet a significant safety and efficiency benefit, particularly for medical aircraft or those low on fuel.