SAFA Skysailor Magazine

54 SKY SAILOR December-January-February | SUMMER 2025/2026 What options are there for displaying ADS-B data, other than the AIR3? In terms of flight instruments, none at present. I’ve reviewed the websites of the major instrument providers that cater to free- flight pilots. None, apart from the AIR3, can handle ADS-B traffic. Some of the Europe- an units will incorporate ADS-L handling, but that’s no good over here. More on ADS-L shortly. Alfapilot from Spain do produce an in- strument on pretty much the same tablet platform as the AIR3, running their SeRi Fly application. Being an Android tablet, you can download applications from the Google Play store. The only other option to display ADS-B equipped air traffic is to run a software application from a site such as Flight Radar24 on your mobile phone or on the Alfapilot unit. Whether this will change over time remains to be seen. So, what is ADS-L, and will this be the solution? Probably not. What is ADS-L? ADS-L, or ADS-B Light, is a stripped-down ADS-B system gaining popularity in Europe. But there it utilises a frequency, 860 MHz, disparate from ADS-B traffic, 1090 MHz. That alone could present an insurmountable obstacle for recognition by CASA. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has produced a really good information package on ADS-L for a meeting conducted in 2023; you can find it here: www.easa.europa.eu/sites/ default/files/dfu/4._iconspicuity_ads-l.pdf The ADS-B Mandate Proposal and Consultation