CHENNAI: It was supposed to be a Christmas gift for pilots handling newer planes. Instead, the Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) - an advanced landing assist system than can support 26 landings simultaneously - is up and running at the airport for the last two weeks. Not only has this testing phase begun ahead of schedule, it is officially the first such system at an airport in Southeast Asia, according to Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Using GPS towers, this system will send an updated flight path to planes on any runway, coming in from any end so that pilots can land in any weather. It will also offer real-time corrections on air-speed, tilt and path to ensure there is no error. The existing system, ILS, will also be in use simultaneously, till all planes can operate with GBAS. “It is more precise and cost-effective and removes several hurdles like a shortage of runway.
Land is always in short supply and we’re saving on that because the pilot will not require a long landing track anymore. Less bandwidth will be used and that will cut costs exponentially as well,” said Regional Executive Director - Southern Region, Captain Deepak Shastri. “There are some minor corrections that need to be done because of the ionospheric space that India is compared to the US, after which everything will be active,” he added.
The GBAS has been set up at a corner of the airport, just off the secondary runway. The device and systems have been installed by Honeywell, which has accreditation from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to operate the system in the US. “The field testing will commence almost immediately and we will be using our aircraft to do this. Our operators will also be sent to the US to learn how to manage it. Once the results of the trials are procured it will be sent to the DGCA for accreditation in India,” explained George D’Silva, Joint General Manager of CNS, in charge of this project.
Hoping to get their accreditation done by April 2015, AAI’s officers are also planning on asking airline IndiGo to help out. “This technology can be used only in aircrafts that have been made after 2010, and IndiGo has quite a few of these newer planes. Hence we are planning to ask them if they can assist with the real-time testing,” he added. The planes will need a few on-board systems installed and will receive the signal from the GBAS through it’s multi-modal VHF receiver.