A Hood River, Ore., company has received $7 million in
government funds to study the effectiveness of an innovative system designed
to allow for precision approaches to airports where terrain or other
constraints prevent the use of conventional navaids. Advanced Navigation and
Positioning Corp. (ANPC) says the Transponder Landing System actually uses the
rough terrain as part of a system that tracks an aircraft's position in the
airport's terminal area and sends course-correction instructions to the
cockpit. "By measuring and accounting for the radio signal reflections off of
surrounding obstacles and terrain, the system is able to ensure guidance
accuracy in areas erstwhile unable to support a precision approach," said Pete
Kinkhead, the company's marketing director. There are 21 sites identified for
evaluating the system, 12 of them in Alaska. But while Alaska's rural airport
challenges are well-known, Kinkhead said the applications in the Lower 48 are
equally significant. "Increasing demands on the nation's airspace capacity
necessitate the availability of point-to-point service beyond the major hubs
and all-weather accessibility to many underutilized airports," he said.
Scott Krueger
AKA Grayhawk
Lancair N92EX IO320 Aurora, IL (KARR)
Fair and Balanced
Opinions at No Charge!
There is an oxymoron in that,
somewhere...