Recycled tailbeacon

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
20,772
Location
west Texas
Display Name

Display name:
Dave Taylor
Is it possible to take a Tailbeacon from a salvage yard and have its registration transferred to another aircraft?

Let's assume the finances of the idea make sense.
Also that the buyer accepts the risk of a used product and has decided to go this route.
And that the item is legal based upon the available STC.

Wondering only about recognition by the 'FAA machine' of the tailbeacon being on a different aircraft ie paperwork, registration, test flights.
 
There are quite a few used GTX335 transponders on ebay...removed for upgrade.

I would contact uAvionix to be sure they would transfer the S/N to new owners so they could benefit from software updates and possible repairs or warranty.

You would of course have to program the Tailbeacon for the new N number. Paperwork, PAPR...same as a new install AFAIK.

Jesse Saint might chime in ...
 
Last edited:
You would of course have to program the Tailbeacon for the new N number.
Assuming it works the same as my Skybeacon, you'd have to have the wifi password to do this. Might not come with a junkyard acquisition.

Ron Wanttaja
 
As log as you can get the password, it should transfer just fine when you program it with the new plane n-number and icao address.
 
I use a tailbeacon I bought used on eBay. Plenty are listed, many people do it.
You need the password and then reprogram with the new N number.
 
I bet a call to uavionix with the serial number would get you a password. Maybe.
 
I bet a call to uavionix with the serial number would get you a password. Maybe.

Doubt it. Without proof of purchase (from them) they're going to assume it's stolen.
 
How about installation approval?

The STC includes only a bunch of 172's.
On the uavionix website however there is a Permission Letter that seems to suggest other aircraft may use their data to obtain approval (I think a person with legal skills wrote this so I cannot decipher it) :

(underscore mine)
"Consistent with FAA Order 8110.4C and AC 21-40A, uAvionix Corporation grants permission to uAvionix dealers, installers, and owners of tailBeacon ADS-B Out Transmitter units to utilize FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) SA04427CH and associated data, for the sole and express purpose of installation and approval of the uAvionix tailBeacon ADS-B Out Transmitter. uAvionix grants permissions to use the associated data for obtaining other FAA approved means of installation for aircraft not covered in STC SA04427CH, such as FAA Policy Memorandum, Installation Approval for ADS-B OUT Systems, dated March 2, 2016. "

How, specifically would one 'use their data to obtain other approved means' ?
Write up a 337, and good to go?
 
It’s not a $10,000 GTN. I bet they’d do it.
 
How about installation approval?

The STC includes only a bunch of 172's.
On the uavionix website however there is a Permission Letter that seems to suggest other aircraft may use their data to obtain approval (I think a person with legal skills wrote this so I cannot decipher it) :

(underscore mine)
"Consistent with FAA Order 8110.4C and AC 21-40A, uAvionix Corporation grants permission to uAvionix dealers, installers, and owners of tailBeacon ADS-B Out Transmitter units to utilize FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) SA04427CH and associated data, for the sole and express purpose of installation and approval of the uAvionix tailBeacon ADS-B Out Transmitter. uAvionix grants permissions to use the associated data for obtaining other FAA approved means of installation for aircraft not covered in STC SA04427CH, such as FAA Policy Memorandum, Installation Approval for ADS-B OUT Systems, dated March 2, 2016. "

How, specifically would one 'use their data to obtain other approved means' ?
Write up a 337, and good to go?

Everything is available for download on the Uavionix website. Might even be an example 337 on there.
 
How, specifically would one 'use their data to obtain other approved means' ?
Per the FAA Memo and Technical paper, once an initial system pairing has been approved per TC/ATC/STC that initial approved data can be used for future ADSB installs not covered by (listed under) that specific TC/ATC/STC with no further FAA approvals. So if you want to put a uavionix adsb on your aircraft that was not listed under their STC, your underscored statement above gives you permission to use their data so as not to run afoul with the requirements in 91-403(d). The memo/tech paper explain this in more detail. Outside this specific guidance for adsb installs, you would be required to get your own separate approvals for any aircraft not listed under the STC. So yes, its a matter of completing your sky/tail beacon 337s per the memo/tech paper for your install using uavionix free data.
 
Back
Top