Coimbatore International Airport is currently undergoing a technical revamp which will enable precise, safe and smooth navigation for aircraft.
Airport authorities said that the flight procedures department of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), New Delhi, is in the process of designing and promulgating the ‘Required Navigation Performance’ (RNP) approaches for Coimbatore International Airport.
The RNP approaches help aircraft operate along a precise flight path. This is in addition to the existing conventional instrument approaches.
According to airport director S. Senthil Valavan, the conventional instrument approaches are a set of pre-determined manoeuvres which provide lateral and vertical guidance to an aircraft landing at an airport using ground based navigation aids such as Very high frequency Omni-directional Range (VOR), Non-Directional Beacon (NDB), Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), Instrument Landing System (ILS), etc.
The RNP approaches however allows an aircraft to fly specified paths using only on board equipment with both accuracy and integrity, he said. The RNP approaches are being designed for runway 05 and 23 at Coimbatore International Airport.
This will provide a smoother descent gradient, lower obstacle clearance altitudes and also reduce the minimum visibility requirement for the landing aircraft. It will also reduce the track miles for an arriving aircraft thereby resulting in savings on fuel and reduction in carbon emissions, he said.
A concept-level meeting involving stakeholders including representatives of different airlines and Air Force Station, Sulur, was held at Coimbatore airport on September 17.
The RNP procedures are expected to undergo extensive simulator and flight trials before their promulgation, added Mr. Senthil Valavan.
