Last year in September we were on the last leg of a longish trip that started in Honolulu and after a stop-over in San Francisco we were finally on-board Continental Airlines’ 767- 400 bound for Brussels. We were late pushing back (no fault of the airline) and taxi was more an occasional crawl than continuous movement. In just a few minutes I could understand why the Newark-Brussels flight is so often late getting into BRU.
After about 15 minutes of not going anywhere, the captain apologized for the delay and explained that the airport was very busy and that we would probably not be taking off for another 35 minutes or so. He suggested that we take out our laptops and work, walk around visiting friends if we want to… he would be extra gentle with the occasional spurt forward. In the end, the waiting was more like 45 minutes but at least we made many friends onboard.
I was reminded of this episode and how nicely the Continental crew handled the situation while I was listening to Honeywell’s presentation at the recent PBN workshop of their SmartPath GLS (GNSS Landing System) serving Newark. As you may know, there are three runways at EWR, 4L, 4R and 29. The new GLS procedure enables Continental’s aircraft to start the approach to 4R and than break-off to the right and follow a precise curved path for a GLS Cat I landing on 29. The procedure keeps them neatly below the airspace protecting LGA’s arrivals.
Being able to use 29 for landing down to Cat I minimums will certainly help Continental’s operation and other airlines will no doubt want to have the same capability… The era of GLS is definitely here.
We will bring you a more complete article on GLS in the near future. Stay tuned!
The article below appeared on Flight International’s website. One hopes that Europe will follow the lead being set by the US and Air Berlin. Does anyone know of any other airports of airlines which are thinking of doing the same?
Air Berlin secures approval for satellite-based Cat I approaches
By David Kaminski-Morrow Flight Internastional)
German carrier Air Berlin has secured approval to conduct Category I satellite-based approaches following trials which the airline began last year.
Air Berlin has been taking delivery of Boeing 737-700s and -800s since mid-2007 with the GPS-based landing system (GLS). The carrier says it will have 10 by the end of this year and will receive 80 GLS-capable aircraft in the next five years.
GLS approaches, which use satellite-based positioning augmented by a local ground station, are an alternative to those conducted with regular instrument landing systems.
While ILS limits aircraft to straight-line approaches, GLS allows for curved paths which can be shorter and more flexible, and reduce ground noise.
“In future the airline will be able to use it for normal flight operations,” says Air Berlin, adding that GLS offers “considerable cost-saving potential”.
Air Berlin has been conducting test flights at Bremen, following clearance from German regulator LBA in August last year, and has also performed evaluations at Malaga in Spain.
Cockpit procedures for Bremen involved the flying pilot initially setting the GLS channel while the non-flying pilot set the ILS frequency – or used runway approach lights in visual conditions – to crosscheck the GLS signal.
During the Bremen tests the decision height was fixed at 440ft, with runway visual range at 650m, but the approval for normal operations enables these precautionary minima to be reduced to 200ft and 550m, the full criteria for Category I approaches.
Testing at Malaga involved a prototype ground station, which meant that the GLS signal was used for monitoring only. The flying pilot set and flew the ILS but the non-flying pilot set and observed the GLS channel.
Under normal operations GLS procedures, such as autopilot mode selection and annunciations, are identical to those for ILS, requiring no additional pilot training. Air Berlin’s chief for the Boeing fleet, Marc Altenscheidt, says that the GLS approaches have been shown to be more precise than those using ILS.
“Our tests with satellite-based approaches were so successful that we are convinced that GLS is the technology of the future for global air traffic,” he says.
But he adds that GLS will have to be approved for the stricter Category III approach criteria in order to replace fully the ILS infrastructure in Europe