AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 71

manufacturer installation. Owner or
renter, you can choose from either satellite
weather datalink provided by SiriusXM or
ADS-B flight information service-broadcast (FIS-B). Each service has pros and cons,
and offers different features. Both can be
depicted on a panel-mounted display or a
tablet or portable GPS.
SIRIUSXM

groundspeed. They also can send information to various King and Garmin GPS units.
Price: $1,500 (Microflo), $2,000 (Miniflo and
Digiflo), not including transducers.
Contact: shadin.com

WEATHER IN THE COCKPIT

Not to be macabre, but weather continues
to bend airplanes and kill pilots. Although
weather-related accidents accounted for
only about 5 percent of all pilot-error accidents in 2015, they tallied up nearly 20
percent of fatal pilot-error accidents. The
obvious conclusion is that although your
chance of having a weather-related accident is somewhat low, if you do fly VFR
into IMC, meet a thunderstorm, or botch
an approach, you have a greater chance of
dying from that mistake.
One could make a strong argument that
the best investment to nullify weather accidents is a new brain or a new personality.
That's because most are caused by poor
decision making. Great information is useless in the hands of someone who chooses
to ignore it.
But better information would help to
prevent some of these accidents. Pilots have
two key choices when deciding on how to
get weather in the cockpit. We'll ignore onboard radar because of its limited scope
and almost exclusive original equipment

Datalink weather from SiriusXM is offered
as a subscription service. Through proprietary hardware the information can be
displayed on a broad range of GPS navigators, multifunction displays, portable GPS
units, and more recently, on a tablet. For
those flying with a tablet, a drawback of
SiriusXM is that there are few hardware
options, and the buy-in cost is more than
some comparable ADS-B receivers.
Look at FIS-B and SiriusXM side by
side, however, and it's clear that SiriusXM
offers a better product. As soon as you

receive the broadcast you have nationwide
high-resolution radar, METARs, TAFs, and
everything else the service offers. There
are lots of other benefits as well. Cloud-top
reports are observed, whereas ADS-B only
provides forecast information. Lightning is
both cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud,
while ADS-B is only cloud-to-ground.
The biggest drawback is cost, which
can add up over time. But if money isn't
a factor, or you are looking for premium
options, SiriusXM is the choice.

Price: $29.99 to $99.99 per month, depending
on weather products selected. Free trials and
special offers are available to AOPA members at
aopa.org/siriusxm.
Contact: siriusxm.com/sxmaviation
ADS-B FIS-B

Many people will say that ADS-B weather
is free, which is only partially true. It is subscription-free; hardware is still required to
receive the information. Like SiriusXM,
ADS-B weather can be displayed on a variety of panel-mounted and portable displays.
Probably the biggest benefit to ADS-B is the
low cost of entry for a portable receiver that
can connect with a tablet, making in-flight
weather available and accessible for everyone in every aircraft.
ADS-B weather comes through a series
of ground stations installed around the
country. This means the receiver needs to
see the stations in order to receive the information. If you have a ground station at your
airport, you'll probably get ADS-B weather
on the ground. If you live in the mountains
it might mean climbing a few thousand feet
before you receive it.
A big complaint about ADS-B weather is
the radar display. Within 250 nautical miles
the receiver will get a decent picture of the
weather in a workable resolution. To save
bandwidth the radar beyond that will look
like a game of Minecraft. It's virtually unusable. In a Piper Cub that's not a problem. In
a speedy Daher TBM, it's important.
One important side note to ADS-B
weather: Buying a receiver and getting the
subscription-free weather and traffic does
not meet the 2020 ADS-B mandate. For that
your aircraft will need ADS-B Out equipment.
Price: Subscription-free; hardware varies.
Contact: aircraftspruce.com for a range of
hardware choices.
EMAIL ian.twombly@aopa.org

"Vortex generators reduce stall speed, which
is the next best thing to a parachute. Synthetic
vision can show obstacles as well as the nature
of terrain-or water-beneath you."

-Dave Hirschman
aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 71

https://www.aopa.org/about/aopa-partners/siriusxm-aviation http://www.siriusxm.com/sxmaviation http://www.shadin.com http://www.aircraftspruce.com http://www.aopa.org/pilot

AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019