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Flying home yesterday VFR at 4500 ft and my passenger saw something and pointed it out. I had zero idea what it was, and then it came so fast... I had to take immediate evasive maneuvers and just missed the drone. It probably was just 50 below after I pulled up and turned hard right. It was a big one too. It won't be long before someone hits one of those things. I hope not, but that was way too close. They are dangerous, and someone is going to get killed before they do something about it. Mark

Don't know how many saw this I just found it when reading another thread here but it looks like Google may be the Knight in Shining Armour for us and ADSB. They are talking about DRAMATICALLY driving the prices down so they can do their drone deliveries in the future and they see us and our willingness to install ADSB as their big issue. They could sell at a loss and still come out ahead in the end. This could be the game changer! Talk of less than $100 Part of one Avweb article below (Many more AVweb articles just by Googling Drones ADSB Google it is potentially huge. Like over-the-top, seriously-disruptive-split-the-market-open huge. Why? Because Google is a tech giant with a lot of money it’s willing to invest in a future it sees dominated by robotic technologies, including swarms of drones to deliver things and provide services such as communication, surveillance and survey and things we haven’t even thought of yet. Laser-like, Google has zeroed in on the potential barriers to stymy its plans: regulation and fear. You can bet it’s spending serious money greasing the political wheels to hurry up regulations favorable to its cause. The fear part relates to legitimate concerns by aviation interests—read the manned aircraft industry—of collisions with UAS operating at low altitude, say 500 feet and below. But unlike some in the general aviation industry, Google has figured out that deconfliction of drone-to-drone traffic and drone-to-manned will depend heavily on ADS-B and that acceptable safety levels will be achieved only if all aircraft are equipped. From Google’s point of view, that may include aircraft whose owners don’t want to equip because they would rather avoid the mandated airspace than spend four grand for a blind box with limited perceived value. Of course, that’s where most of the UAS will fly. That’s why Google’s Dave Vos was quite clear in saying the company wants to drive down ADS-B costs for manned and unmanned aircraft. And if I’m reading Vos’ remarks right, Google is willing to wade in with its own money to dramatically drive down the cost of ADS-B so everyone can afford it and, more important, will be willing to buy it. In this market, Google could be more than the 800-pound gorilla; it could be the center of the known universe. Even if it has to invest hundreds of millions selling ADS-B at a loss, you can easily see why Google would see this as mere pocket change in service of a larger, visionary goal. There are two nuts to crack. One is less expensive hardware, the other is simpler, cheaper installation. I don’t think, and I’ll bet Google shares this, that $2000 hardware costs are low enough. Nor is $1500 to $2000 low enough for installation costs. Can Google drive this to $500 with a streamlined installation process that doesn’t require ripping the airplane apart? A portable? My view is that a $62 billion company with a big dog in the fight is a lot likelier to make this happen than the FAA thundering about regulation or avionics companies offering more choices at the same marginally attractive prices. Whether Google develops its own ADS-B technology—a trivial task for a company of its capabilities—or funds someone else to do it is immaterial. One company, Sagetech, already has 100-gram ADS-B units that will fit into a shirt pocket. These are designed for UAS applications. With hundreds of thousands of drones on the horizon—all ADS-B equipped—the downward pressure on hardware prices should benefit everyone. If I were in the ADS-B business myself, I’d be nervously watching this.