Is ILS, aviation’s trusted friend for the past half century, now seeing its last days? Probably not. Some observers believe it has many years of life ahead of it, yet newer technologies are slowly entering the scene, in such diverse settings as Norway’s fjords, Heathrow’s jam-packed runways, the icy wastes of Antarctica and at several major U.S. hubs. In these locations, the newcomers provide unique benefits that ILS either cannot provide, or provides at much higher cost.
In Norway, regional airline Wideroe, an SAS subsidiary, flies its Dash 8s into some pretty challenging locations, such as the coastal fjords along the country’s rugged coast. Weather can be bad, landing minimums have been high, and yet the many small communities depend on regular air service. Following the 1988 loss of a company Dash 7 with all on board after a beacon step-down approach into the small airstrip at Bronnoysund, 500 miles north of Oslo, Avinor, Norway’s air navigation service provider, sought a safer approach solution.
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