Belgocontrol, the agency in charge of safety in the Belgian airspace, will implement a new procedure for the arrival of planes at Antwerp airport from December 2015, reveals the organisation on Thursday. Planes will land following satellite data instead of ground installation data as of the end of the year. “Belgocontrol will later implement the same procedure in the 4 other airports within its remit,” which are Brussels, Charleroi, Ostend, and Liège airports, they add.
Planes traditionally follow signals from ground radio beacons, explains Belgocontrol. The use of satellite data in a “RNP approach (Required Navigation Performance)” was tested in Antwerp however, in early July. The test was a success and the decision was made to adopt this technique for landing from December, after consultation with airport personnel.
“Using satellite data to help planes land” should be “more and more common for planes taking off and flying” in the future, notes Belgocontrol.
One of the advantages of the satellite data technique is that planes can “use landing strips not equipped with ILS installations (Instrument Landing System, a system gathering data from ground radio beacons) when visibility is reduced.”
(Source: Belga)
