After 20 years of working on the development and deployment of this technology, I am greatly encouraged to see the acceleration of interest and activity across the globe in recent weeks. What is really interesting is the breadth of activity both in terms of geography and the variety of stakeholders who are initiating the activity. I have collected a sample of headlines from online news just to illustrate my point:
First, it is really interesting to see a resourceful city in Canada working to bring airline service to their airport by offering to underwrite costs for RNP procedures used by WestJet: City commits $350,000 to navigational software if WestJet comes to town via The Source
It is a great relief to see the approval of RNP AR procedures at New York’s JFK airport. It is, of course, good news for jetBlue, but in time it is expected that this will provide relief for international carriers operating to JFK who are quite capable of RNP AR operations and have multiple deployments around the globe, such as Qantas and Emirates: JetBlue A320s use RNP approaches at New York JFK via ATW Online
After a lot of work by the stakeholders of India, the very first PBN procedure was recently inaugurated by Indigo airlines at Cochin airport in the south of India: IndiGo A320 makes India’s first RNP approach landing via ATW Online
The changes in navigation and the future upgrade plans of the FAA have begun to capture the interest of the popular media and larger population. USA Today has a regular feature called “Ask the Captain” that recently addressed this technology: Ask the Captain: How has GPS changed flight navigation? via USA Today
Africa recently made the news with a new PBN procedure in Liberia that was flown by Delta Air Lines and their technical pilots in a 767: RIA Gets GPS Approach System for Flight Landing Delta Applauded for Pro-Bono Test Validation via Daily Observer, Delta Makes Landmark Landing Using RNAV GPS in Liberia via FrontPageAfrica
Nigeria is encouraging Operators and Pilots to “Key In” to PBN as an important technology for their country: Airlines urged to key into satellite based navigation system via The Nation, NAMA to switch to performance based navigation via Vanguard
After two years of collaborative effort with numerous stakeholders, Brazil recently approved the first RNP AR approaches at Santos Dumont, a challenging airport near downtown Rio de Janeiro: Brazil Approves RNP Approaches via AIN Online
Azul recently announced the kickoff of their own RNP AR program in Brazil for their Embraer E-jet fleet: Brazil’s Azul taps GE for RNP-AR operations via Air Traffic Management
The CEO of Alaska Airlines, the original pioneer with RNP AR operations, provided more insight into the financial rewards of their program: Alaska Airlines Sees ‘Decent Payback’ from RNP Investment via AIN Online
Alaska Airlines continues to be a pioneer in this field with a new SeaTac procedure introduced in early June with the support of many partners: Sea-Tac airliner tests could yield quieter, more efficient landings via The Seattle Times
The FAA recently announced a contract with ITT and GE Aviation to deploy public RNP procedures at 5 mid-size airports. It is the first FAA contract for 3rd Party PBN in the US: ITT Exelis, GE Naverus Win NextGen RNP Contracts via Inside GNSS
The popular resort town of Sun Valley is an excellent candidate to benefit from RNP AR procedures to improve service at the existing airport: Applaud airport reliability effort via Idaho Mountain Express
There are challenges to successfully deploy PBN procedures that are seen by communities improving their environment. Lessons are being learned in Charlotte with the local community groups taking action to what they see as a negative experience with PBN: Charlotte Douglas’ efforts not reducing noise, residents’ attorney says via The Charlotte Observer
The Middle East has joined the community of countries with successful PBN programs with a new RNP AR procedure at Abu Dhabi: Etihad Airways operates a demonstration RNP-AR flight at Abu Dhabi via Airliners Gallery, Airbus and Etihad Airways begin full RNP-AR implementation in Abu Dhabi Terminal Airspace via Airbus
Malaysia is on track to have a nation-wide network of RNP procedures supplied by GE Aviation in cooperation with Air Asia and other stakeholders: GE Aviation Implementing Nation-wide RNP Program in Malaysia with AirAsia via Market Watch
As you read through these headlines from recent weeks, I hope you have the same impression as me, which is that our industry is embracing PBN technology in unprecedented ways and there is much to celebrate in these successes!
Now, to talk about July, which was a busy month for the aviation world. A few weeks ago, Farnborough hosted our largest industry tradeshow of the year. On July 16, I took part in a first flight in Lima, Peru with LAN Airlines and spent remainder of that week taking part in Latin America’s PBN Summit. Here’s a little more detail on these things:
Farnborough: I was in Rio de Janeiro for customer meetings and wasn’t able to attend this year’s show, but you can check out all the things that GE Aviation did at www.geaviation.com/shows.
As I noted earlier, I recently took part in the first Required Navigation Performance Authorization Required (RNP AR) to Instrument Landing System (ILS) with autoland flight at Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport. LAN Peru Captain Jose Salazar was at the controls of this regularly scheduled passenger flight from Aeroquipa to Lima with LAN Peru VP of Operations Captain Pedro Robles and myself in the flightdeck jumpseats as observers. This project required a substantial amount of background work with excellent cooperation among all the involved parties. All of this was evident to me as I watched the elegance of the procedure engineering enable the A319 to transition gracefully from the RNP arrival and approach to the ILS for the automatic landing on Lima Runway 15 at 1502 UTC on July 16th. At the transition point from RNP to ILS, there is a complete transition of guidance control laws and I was amazed to see this occur without even the slightest waggle of wings – it was one completely seamless path from top of descent to touchdown. As the Cat III ILS to Runway 15 at Lima is published shortly, this new integrated deployment will enable airlines to enjoy the efficiency and predictability benefits of RNP operations in all-weather conditions at Lima.
For the remainder of the week, I attended the Latin America PBN Forum in Lima, Peru. The Forum promotes safety, efficiency and collaboration for Latin America’s aviation infrastructure. It emphasizes collaboration as a way to achieve common goals and brings together key stakeholders to share their needs, vision, knowledge, and plans that can lead to an inclusive and successful PBN implementation in the region. Leaders from regional governments, airlines, airports, regulatory agencies and air navigation service providers participated, as well as global aviation organizations IATA, ICAO, and ALTA.
Lastly, I’d like to thank David Parker Brown – also known as @airlinereporter – for having me guest post on his blog. My fellow GE AvGeeks, Steve Csonka and Dale Carlson, have also posted within the last month. To read my post, click here.
I hope you’ll take a moment to reflect on how much progress we are all making in upgrading airspace operations around the globe!