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Southwest Airlines will be using RNP approach from 6 April

  • 01-04-2010 7:35pm
    #1
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    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,055 ✭✭✭


    "Next week Southwest Airlines Co. changes the way it flies, a major milestone in the push to modernize the nation's air travel system. For passengers, the last 20 minutes of a flight may feel more graceful as planes glide in without revving up engines repeatedly.

    "On April 6, the airline will change out the cockpit software in two-thirds of its fleet, giving pilots different instruments and a new look to displays. The radical upgrade, which took three years of preparation and required retraining 6,000 pilots, will enable Southwest to fly precise satellite-based navigation approaches to airports. That should save fuel, cut noise and reduce delays.

    "On April 5th we fly one way. On the 6th, another way," said Jeff Martin, Southwest's senior director of flight operations.

    "That flip-the-switch change pushes airlines closer to a modern air-traffic control system. Using more-precise approaches to airports called Required Navigation Performance (RNP) routes, airplanes can shorten their flights. The paths laid out in the sky that planes use into and out of airports will be much narrower, removing overlap between different airports in congested cities.

    "Without the new technology, planes flying into Chicago's Midway Airport, for example, may have to wait for an opening in the line of planes taking off nearby from Chicago's O'Hare airport when winds are from the south because the routes overlap. Now, most of Southwest's planes won't have to wait. The same "decoupling" is planned for New York, Houston, Dallas and other major airline chokepoints.

    "That's a huge step," said FAA Administrator Randolph Babbitt.

    "Only a handful of airports have RNP procedures in place, but about 20 that Southwest flies to will have them by the end of the year. For passengers, RNP will be a different experience. Instead of lining up miles away from an airport to land and then stair-stepping down by descending and then powering up engines to level off over and over, airplanes will glide at idle almost all the way to touchdown. The descent will be continuous and quieter. Some turns will be tight close to airports. It will feel like the plane is swooping in at the last few minutes of flight instead of long, drawn-out approaches."

    the rest of the article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303338304575155813404043090.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_sections_lifestyle

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Required_Navigation_Performance


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