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Instrument Flight<br />
The Skyguard TX ADS-B & Instrument Approach Charts<br />
by Michael J. “Mick” Kaufman<br />
Automatic<br />
Dependent<br />
Surveillance-<br />
Broadcast (ADS-B)<br />
is FAA's satellitebased<br />
successor<br />
to radar. ADS-B<br />
Michael J. Kaufman<br />
makes use of<br />
GPS technology<br />
to determine<br />
and share precise aircraft location<br />
information, and streams additional<br />
flight information to the cockpits of<br />
properly equipped aircraft.<br />
In this issue, I will be covering my<br />
review of another ADS-B box, and I<br />
will be starting a series on “instrument<br />
approach charts.”<br />
In our last issue, I had the privilege<br />
of reviewing the “Stratus ADS-B” box<br />
operating on Foreflight. In this issue, we<br />
will review the “Skyguard TX” that runs<br />
on Wing X Pro, so it is somewhat of a<br />
double review seeing that I have had very<br />
little previous exposure to Wing X Pro.<br />
I have always felt challenged<br />
when trying to interoperate what the<br />
“TERPSTERS” (people who design and<br />
write “TERPS” or Terminal Instrument<br />
Procedures) are trying to tell us when<br />
designing the charts. I will start writing<br />
about techniques and charts and will<br />
continue to do so in coming issues of<br />
<strong>Midwest</strong> <strong>Flyer</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>. I will find<br />
some interesting and challenging charts<br />
and, along with our readers, will have a<br />
go at the interpretation.<br />
After reviewing the Stratus ADS-B<br />
box in our previous issue, I learned a lot<br />
about ADS-B and my hat is off to the<br />
designers of this concept. If I make an<br />
error in my numbers when doing this<br />
explanation, I will try to correct it in<br />
the next issue. If any of our readers have<br />
anything to add, I would appreciate<br />
an e-mail or telephone call. I did error<br />
on a diagram in the last issue and that<br />
showed the “traffic puck.” The traffic<br />
sent to the aircraft from the ground<br />
station is a 15-mile radius and 3500<br />
feet above and below, not the 5000 feet<br />
shown in the diagram.<br />
The Stratus unit that I evaluated in<br />
the previous issue was a weather-only<br />
box and did not display traffic. I stated<br />
the reason Stratus and Foreflight do<br />
not include traffic – namely for liability<br />
reasons. The Skyguard TX unit costs<br />
about twice that of the Stratus; about<br />
$1500.00, but I feel it has a lot more to<br />
offer.<br />
The weather from the Skyguard<br />
is almost identical to the Stratus unit<br />
JUNE/JULY 2013 MIDWEST FLYER MAGAZINE 11
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