The FAA has offered balloonists operating in and around Albuquerque a temporary exemption from current ADS-B equipage requirements while a longer-term arrangement is being devised. As we reported earlier, operators in the unofficial “balloon capital of the world” complained that the ADS-B rules were keeping them out of airspace they’d been using for passenger flights for decades and that the equipage requirements threatened the annual balloon festival in October. The requirement that ADS-B be hard-wired into an aircraft electrical system precludes installation in aircraft, like balloons, that don’t have electrical systems. Balloons were therefore prevented from using controlled airspace in which ADS-B is required.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/balloon-ads-b-exemption-offered-albuquerque-operators