Avionics News December 2012 - 18

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Continued from page 17

mally navigate within an airspace and between terrain. RNP 0.1 or 0.3 capability is necessary for RNP AR procedures, as well as specific aircraft functionality.

In addition to the avionics equipment costs, there will be costs associated with obtaining operational approvals from the appropriate civil aviation authority and with maintaining a training program for flight crew. OPERATOR’S EXPERIENCES At the symposium, one major international operator stated that the cost of an RNP-AR procedure is little more than a RNAV (GNSS) procedure, once the initial implementation work is completed, and made the following points: • RNP–AR is close to an ILS substitute. • Precise lateral & vertical guidance through the SID, STAR, via/approach transition and final approach to and from any runway end is a unique safety/efficiency characteristic of RNP-AR. • Only RNP-AR (RF Legs) can provide the business case (approximate 8-12 month payback period). Operators at the symposium cautioned there may be unexpected costs; for example, your aircraft may have come from the factory as being “RNP 0.3 complaint,” but in actuality implementation of a service bulletin may be necessary and, in one case, this cost an operator $91,000 per airplane. Also, RNP-AR training is based on lateral deviation scales being available, and this is only available in the RNP 0.1 package – which is a significant extra cost. Operators reported typical implementation problems as being: • Delays in delivery of FMS software upgrades. • Costly and slow delivery of simulator upgrades. • Procedures were designed by an approved provider with the output checked and approved by a major regulatory authority; however, the local regulator has insisted that law requires them to check the design. IMPLICATIONS FOR NONCOMMERCIAL OPERATORS For operators of privately-registered aircraft that wish to conduct operations into airports where PBN approaches are being implemented, they will eventually be faced with decommissioning of the existing ILS and VOR systems. Therefore, in order to maintain a precision approach capability into these airports, it will be necessary to obtain approval for PBN operations, with the resulting associated costs. Most newly manufactured medium and large business jets will come factory-equipped with RNPcertified avionics installed; however, for older such aircraft, this may entail significant costs in avionics equipment upgrades. It will be the responsibility of the operator to demonstrate to their regulatory authority that the aircraft has the necessary equipment and can perform as needed for the level of PBN operational approval requested. Additionally, there will be the significant costs of obtaining operational approvals and training. One benefit to private operators that was identified is that adoption of PBN procedures in a terminal control area has the

A depiction of an advanced continuous descent approach using PBN design criteria.

BENEFITS AND COSTS PBN removes the reliance on ground-based navigation aids, such as ILS and VOR. A PBN 4D (3D + time) approach profile will utilize a continuous descent approach with radius to fix legs and a flight path designed to maintain the required clearance from high terrain and obstacles. This brings benefits in efficiency of airport arrival and departure operations; safety of operations by ensuring more accurate flight paths; and a reduction in fuel burn resulting in cost savings for the air operator and reduced carbon emissions. On the cost side of the equation, to be certified for PBN approach operations, the aircraft must be equipped with a flight management system with the capability to store and conduct complex approach and departure profiles that are compatible with the aircraft performance; a global navigation satellite system WAAS receiver capable of localizer performance with vertical guidance, and an inertial reference system. Some approaches will require a ground-based augmentation system and may be combined with synthetic or enhanced vision systems.

Avionics equipment requirements for PBN operations

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Avionics News December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News December 2012