OPERATIONS OF AIRCRAFT WITHOUT AUTOMATIC DEPENDENT SURVEILLANCE – BROADCAST (ADS-B) OUT IN U.S. ADS-B OUT RULE AIRSPACE (OUTSIDE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES)

Purpose. To describe FAA Air Traffic policy for aircraft operations without Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out (ADS-B Out) in United States sovereign airspace (as defined in 49 U.S.C §40103 outside of the 48 Contiguous States).

Pursuant to 14 CFR § 91.225, when operating in Class A airspace an aircraft must:

1. Meet the performance requirements in TSO-C166b or TSO-C166c, Extended Squitter Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Traffic Information Service-Broadcast (TIS-B) Equipment Operating on the Radio Frequency of 1090 Megahertz (MHz); and,
2. Meet the requirements of 14 CFR § 91.227.

For the purposes of § 91.225, Class A airspace is defined by airspace classification and is not limited by geographical location. The airspace of the United States exists over all land mass regions of the U.S. as defined in 14 CFR § 1.1 and includes the States (contiguous and non-contiguous), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the possessions, including the surrounding territorial waters.

NOTE-

Areas beyond 12 nautical miles from the U.S. coastline, are outside U.S sovereign airspace. However, the FAA may provide air traffic control services and apply U.S. operational requirements in certain offshore or internationally delegated airspace in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreements. Applicability of U.S regulations are based on airspace classification and FAA jurisdiction, not sovereignty alone.

Several U.S. territories in the Pacific and Caribbean regions have Class A airspace established over or adjacent to them under FAA air traffic control jurisdiction. Per the Department of the Interior, Insular Affairs Policy Division, the U.S. possessions, or territories, in the Pacific and Caribbean regions include the following:

Caribbean: Navassa Island, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

Pacific: American Samoa, Baker Island, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Wake Atoll. Not all listed possessions have Class A airspace established over them; the presence of Class A airspace depends on FAA airspace designation and ATC jurisdiction.

For flight operations within the Class A airspace under FAA jurisdiction over Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands south of latitude 17 degrees 49 North, the FAA notes the following expectations:

1. Operators without equipment meeting the performance requirements in TSO-C166b or TSO-C166c are expected to plan their routes of flight (including alternate airports) around this airspace; and
2. Operators without equipment meeting the performance requirements in TSO-C166b or TSO-C166c should train their flight crews to generally decline a voluntary ATC rerouting through this airspace unless required to safely operate their aircraft (e.g., in-flight emergencies, weather deviations, or diversions, etc.), advising ATC that they are not equipped with appropriate ADS-B avionics. If, however, ATC chooses to proceed with the new routing, the flight crew should accept and execute the clearance.

The remaining locations in the Pacific and Caribbean regions do not have FAA provided ADS-B or radar surveillance coverage at this time. The specific locations within the Pacific and Caribbean regions without such coverage are: American Samoa, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, Navassa Island, and the Northern Mariana Islands north of latitude 17 degrees 49 North.

In airspace without FAA ADS-B or radar coverage, the FAA cannot provide (and does not provide) Air Traffic surveillance services. Additionally, without ADS-B coverage, the FAA has no practical means to detect violations of § 91.225. Therefore, until such coverage exists, FAA does not anticipate devoting its resources to identifying non-equipped aircraft briefly transiting these areas without FAA ADS-B or radar coverage.

(AJV-P, Updated 1/23/2026)