Universal Avionics spent much of the last year working with FAA officials trying to come up with a way to upgrade the customers’ flight management systems for Waas LPV approach capability under a basic field approval rather than having to submit to the cumbersome supplemental type certification process. The result of that effort was an agreement struck in September that clears a path for more than 1,000 business jet operators to take advantage of the new guidance.
Universal Avionics was the first FMS maker to obtain TSO C146b approval for Waas-capable flight management systems, but the FAA requirement that the Waas LPV upgrade be done under an STC that often involved the submittal of “issue papers” for each airplane meant few operators could take advantage of the lower Rnav approach minimums. At last count the FAA had created 1,884 Rnav procedures with Waas LPV (lateral precision with vertical guidance) minimums, which are similar to Category I ILS minimums yet don’t require the installation of airport-specific ground equipment. The FAA is bringing the satnav capability to airports around the U.S. as part of a plan to begin phasing out many ILS installations and provide precision approach capability at thousands of airports that until now relied on VOR, NDB and basic Rnav approaches.
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