20
GA
/ Vol. 5 / No.4 / APRIL 2013
Technology
The South African Civil
Aviation Authority (SACAA)
has approved new Required
Navigation Performance with
Authorization Required (RNP
AR) tailored procedures at Cape
Town International Airport for
South African Airways (SAA).
The procedures have been
designed in close cooperation
between SAA and Quovadis, an
Airbus ProSky company, along
with SACAA and Air Traffic and
Navigation Services (ATNS).
Cape Town Airport is a high
density airport with complex
airspace. These procedures created
are customized to SAA's operations,
and will provide shorter tracks than
conventional procedures, allowing a
reduction in flight time and fuel burn
on each approach and departure track.
The flight tracks used by these
new procedures are derived from
already in-use visual tracks in and
out of Cape Town, and the RNP
AR procedures provide a means
to fly these shorter tracks even
in Instrument Meteorological
Conditions (IMC). Quovadis
sought to have ample collaboration
with local Air Traffic Control
(ATC), thus enabling approach
procedures to perform Continuous
Descent Operations (CDO),
bringing further reduction in
fuel burn during approach.
Additional benefits include RNP
0.3 accuracy level, providing lower
approach minima. New RNP AR
Engine Out Standard Instrument
Departures (EOSIDs) have also
been designed, providing a fully-
guided and protected track to be
followed in the unlikely event of
an engine failure at takeoff.
SAA has taken an active part
in the project, and in parallel has
obtained operational approval
from SACAA to conduct RNP
AR operations. This involved
implementing new airline procedures,
data management processes and
flight crew training on the new RNP
Quovadis Assists
South African
Airways with
Approval of New
RNP AR Procedures
at Cape Town
International Airport
Airbus ProSky, the ATM subsidiary
of Airbus, is dedicated to improving
the performance of global Air Traffic
Management (ATM). Comprised of
recognized subject matter experts and
offering intelligent ATM solutions
that maximize efficiency, capacity
and environmental sustainability.
Airbus ProSky is committed to
working side-by-side with Air
Navigation Service Providers
(ANSP), aircraft operators and
airport authorities to build a truly
collaborative system with greater
capacity, better performance and
environmental sustainability for all
stakeholders. Airbus ProSky includes
Metron Aviation, Quovadis and
ATRiCS, brought together to improve
the performance and efficiency of
the global airspace. Airbus ProSky
delivers groundbreaking ATM
research and development, Air
Traffic Flow Management (ATFM),
Surface Management (SMAN),
Performance-Based Navigation
(PBN) and Collaborative Decision
Making (CDM) solutions.
For more information, please visit
www.airbusprosky.com
About airbus prosky
AR procedures at Cape Town. Local
ATC at Cape Town have trained to
support the introduction of these new
procedures with existing traffic and
conventional tracks. Quovadis has
assisted SAA, SACAA and ATNS
throughout the RNP AR approval
process, and the RNP AR procedures
development and validation.
This approval constitutes a
first for RNP AR procedures on the
African continent, and paves the
way for further developments of
RNP AR procedures in Africa, in the
interest both of enhanced safety and
increased operational efficiency.
Capt. Johnny Woods, Director
of Flight Operations, SAA said,
"We have all worked very hard to
reach this milestone. Now, South
Africa is ready for a wider PBN
deployment in line with ICAO
recommendations. We have had
great support from Quovadis and
achieved all our objectives. We look
forward to future implementations
and procedure design."
Don-Jacques Ould-Ferhat, COO,
Quovadis said, "We are proud to be
a part of this project in South Africa.
Our collaboration has produced safe
and fuel-efficient flight procedures
for SAA at Cape Town Airport. We
look forward to having a long-
term partnership with the highly-
qualified teams in South Africa. ·