Honeywell last month gave the first flight demonstrations of an RNP (required navigation performance) approach being developed at Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU), located just a stone’s throw from the company’s global headquarters in New Jersey. Flown in a Honeywell Gulfstream G450, the procedure is significant for being among the first created for a general aviation airport and, Honeywell noted, will serve as the basis for RNP operational approval of its G450 and G550.
Honeywell has teamed with Gulfstream and Jeppesen on the project, which seeks to add an RNP SAAAR (special aircraft and aircrew and authorization required) approach featuring a gentle fix-to-radius (RF) turn to the final approach course to Morristown’s Runway 5. RNP procedures allow appropriately equipped aircraft to shoot complex, curved approaches with needle’s-eye accuracy to minimums thanks to the technique’s precise path-keeping capabilities. And because RNP uses GPS and airborne inertial sensors for navigating, ILS and VOR ground stations aren’t needed to develop new RNP procedures. Morristown has an ILS approach to Runway 23, but no precision approach to Runway 5.
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