Less aircraft noise
for cities and municipalities in the vicinity of the airport through
closer adherence to defined flight paths immediately after take-off.
This is the objective of a joint project of DFS, Fraport and
Lufthansa.
With RNP-1 and
radius-to-fix, these companies are elevating precision navigation in
air traffic to a new quality level. A level that is still unrivalled
in Germany.
The innovative
procedure was used for the first time on 20 July for the departure
of a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 and DFS intends to apply it for further
departure routes from Frankfurt. Frankfurt Airport is currently the
only airport in Germany that uses this advanced navigation procedure
for departures.
The navigation
procedure RNP (required navigation performance) allows properly
equipped aircraft to fly GPS-based radius-to-fix (RF) legs. Pilots
can then fly a highly precise circle with a radius around a
reference point determined by the air navigation service provider.
In this way, aircraft can maintain their preset ideal curve at a
constant distance from the reference point. Such a capability has
the potential to positively influence the noise footprint for the
people living in this area. The extent of any benefit can currently
not yet be estimated with reasonable accuracy. It is planned to
conduct trial operations with comprehensive monitoring in the
upcoming months to learn more and gather reliable data. DFS and the
Environment and Community Centre (UNH), an organisation run by the
Federal State of Hesse, will cooperate in this monitoring process.
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The new
precision navigation system - which DFS, Fraport and
Lufthansa have been testing since 20 July - should
enable departures from Frankfurt Airport to fly their
assigned track with a much greater degree of accuracy. |
The procedure has
been established at this time on the initiative of the noise
abatement officers of the Federal State of Hesse who had identified
deviations in the area of the second curve.
Simulations have
shown that aircraft can maintain their tracks with more precision by
means of RNP-1 and radius-to-fix, even in difficult wind and weather
conditions. DFS will test the accuracy of this new procedure for six
months on the existing conventional departure route, the southerly
bypass. The greater track accuracy that is being sought will
benefit, for example, southern parts of Nauheim as well as Trebur,
Nackenheim, Bodenheim and some suburbs of Mainz which are currently
still being overflown when the conventional departure route is used
as a result of permitted deviations from the ideal track.
Aircraft need to be
equipped with the latest satellite navigation technology approved
for RNP-1 in order to fly RF legs. Currently, only some of the
aircraft departing from Frankfurt will be able to apply the
procedure. Lufthansa, however, has equipped almost its entire fleet
with this technology.
DFS, Fraport and
Lufthansa have developed and implemented this new, sophisticated
procedure with financial support from the European Commission and
the Connecting Europe Facilities (CEF) programme. The procedure is
part of the implementation of SESAR (Single European Sky ATM
Research) and is steered by the SESAR Deployment Manager. |