New air transport navigation system tested in Montenegro
Pilots from the Civil Aviation Agency have successfully completed trial flight using for the first time new PBN navigation concept and EGNOS satellite system, which is operable in Europe in the last two years. The new PBN navigation concept is based on aircraft navigation performance and primarily enables better accuracy during the flight.
Landing procedure used in trial flight was developed by the Spanish company PildoLabs, within the Horizon 2020 project, funded by the European Union. The procedure is based on EGNOS, the new European satellite system, which significantly increases the accuracy of signals of existing actual satellite systems (GPS, Glonass and Galileo) for flights.
“This flight resulted in two important conclusions. The existence of quality signal of EGNOS system is confirmed in Montenegro, and more important, its precision and accuracy, which are suitable to the most demanding navigation types. Transition from existing flight navigation system to the PBN concept would result in less flight cancellation, because, due to the high accuracy, even flights in adverse weather conditions are possible", as the pilot Dragan Popović said, who conducted trial flight with his colleague pilot Milorad Todorović.
Use of PBN system might be an important step to help airport operator to develop procedures for night flights at Tivat Airport which was not possible so far. “Ground based navigation aids can’t assist in determining procedures for night flights at Tivat Airport. The accuracy of 0.03 NM in all airspace of Montenegro provided by the PBN concept, might enable overall application of this technology in our country, and provide contribution to development of procedures and projects for night flights at Tivat Airport ", as Mr Popović explained. Existing procedures are based on use of ground navigation aids and they impose certain restrictions, so the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommends to gradually stop using ground aids.
The Civil Aviation Agency believes that further development of PBN procedures may increase the overall capacity of airspace of Montenegro, where the participation and active role of all aviation entities in Montenegro is considered necessary.
Source: Portal Analitika
