Hi Dick, You just can't seem to help yourself when it comes to putting the boot into the military:
Plazbot- that probably explains the 290 mandate level- it won't upset the military but to hell with the business aviation community.
The F290 mandate had nothing to do with the military. F290 is the level above which the majority of RPT jet traffic operates. It's also the level above which RVSM now applies. Consequently, it made sense to mandate F290 as the level in respect of ADS-B. Once again, the military had
nothing to do with that decision, other than not raise objections.
The only,
only exemption that the military requested was that the ADS-B mandate be deferred for military aircraft until 2018. Why? Taxpayer dollars (yours) associated with the prohibitive cost of retrofitting legacy aircraft that were due for retirement in the 2012-2018 time-frame. Other than that, and it's an economically sensible approach in respect of
your tax-dollars, the military had zip to do with the decision.
Please stop putting the emotive boot in when you are not in possession of the facts. Or do you just ignore them for the sake of a good punch-line?