Urges FAA To Speed Approach Approvals And Members To Equip To
Take Advantage
The FAA announced this
week that it will permit aircraft using the GPS-based Wide Area
Augmentation System (WAAS) to descend lower than currently allowed
as they approach an airport before deciding whether or not to
continue on an land when they begin publishing new procedures late
this year. It’s a decision, says the Aircraft Owners and
Pilots Association (AOPA), that opens the door to precision
all-weather approaches at thousands of general aviation
airports.
“AOPA has been a strong supporter of WAAS for more than a
decade,” said AOPA President Phil Boyer. “We have urged
both Congress and the FAA to press ahead with the program because
it improves air safety by providing precision vertical guidance
needed, especially in poor weather conditions. And it makes better
use of the nation’s system of airports because thousands that
currently may only be used in good weather can become all-weather
capable.”
Currently, it costs the
federal government between $1 million and $1.5 million per runway
end to install the current ground-based radio navigation system,
known as an instrument landing system (ILS) system. By comparison,
mapping and publishing a new WAAS-based instrument approach
procedure with vertical guidance (WAAS LPV approach) costs about
$50,000.
Right now, pilots flying a WAAS LPV approach can descend no
lower than 250’ above the surface of the airport. When the
new procedures are published, they will be allowed to descend to
200’ above the airport.
“Fifty feet is the height of a five-story building,”
said Boyer. “It can be the difference between seeing the
airport and being able to land, or having to divert to another
airport.”
WAAS detects and corrects minor errors in signals from the
Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) System and enables precision
navigation. The WAAS-corrected signal provides the same precision
as an ILS everywhere and at every altitude. That enhanced precision
allows the FAA to publish WAAS LPV approaches to any runway, and
provides ILS-like minimums to runway ends that meets current ILS
clearance requirements.
“The one thing we would still like to see the FAA do is
recognize WAAS LPV approaches for the precision approaches they
are, espcially in light of today’s announcement,” said
said Randy Kenagy, AOPA’s senior director of advanced
technology.
“The agency
currently regards them as nonprecision approaches with vertical
guidance and expressly forbids their use on an instrument rating
checkride as the required precision approach. AOPA questions that
thinking, especially if the approach has the same minimum standards
as an ILS approach.”
Although the FAA has not announced their implementation plans,
AOPA expects that the first WAAS LPV approaches with the improved
minimums are likely to be overlays for existing ILS approaches,
most of which are at America’s air carrier airports, with new
stand-alone LPV approaches with lower minimums to follow. Although
these approaches are “quick wins,” adding to the number
of LPV approaches, the real benefit to general aviation will come
at airports or runways that do not currently have an ILS.
“While the FAA’s announcement is most welcome, there
is more work for everyone to do,” Boyer concluded. “The
FAA needs to set a brisk pace for approving more vertical guidance
WAAS approaches, and to create a set of standards that recognize
the needs and realities of smaller airports. And owners need to
upgrade to WAAS-enabled avionics to take advantage of the new
approaches, and to show the government that the billions of dollars
already spent on WAAS was a wise investment – one worth
continuing to fund.”