Balancing available technology with the inevitable shifts in what governments will spend to achieve incremental gains, it’s tough to say what the air traffic management (ATM) environment of tomorrow will look like. Weren’t we all supposed to be living in a Free Flight utopia by now? Instead, little has changed in the way business aircraft pilots fly day to day–with the possible exception that the FAA finally decommissioned about 400 NDB approaches, shifting the money used to maintain them to a number of future-minded R&D projects.
The one causing the biggest stir these days is required navigation performance (RNP). Once thought of primarily as a specialized (not to mention pricey) option for airlines flying into hard-to-reach mountain airports like Juneau, Alaska, RNP is winning serious consideration among the aviation mainstream, and some say it could become an integral part of the future National Airspace System. The benefit of RNP is that appropriately equipped aircraft can shoot complex, curving approaches with needle’s eye accuracy to minimums thanks to the procedures’ precise path-keeping capabilities.
More In ATC
