20 September 2006
The CAA has announced that it is extending the trial of GPS approaches at six airfields around the UK. The trial will now finish at the end of December 2006.
The trial (which is outlined in <a href=’http://www.ais.org.uk/aes/pubs/aip/pdf/aic/4Y205.PDF’ target=’_blank’>AIC Number 50 (yellow 205) ‘UK Trial of RNAV (GNSS) Instrument Approach Procedures’ </a>) had been due to end on October 25.
The CAA had already complained that fewer pilots than expected had taken part in the trial; 100 pilots have registered for the trial (see website below for registering), of those 47 have flown the approaches but only 26 have completed the feedback form. It is hoping that the extra time will give pilots the chance to complete the forms.
Two issues which have already surfaced are lack of familiarity with the equipment, and confusion over the representation of the procedure.
There has been some concern in the industry over the choice of airfields and, in particular, over the fact that only British-registered pilots were to be allowed.
Ron Elder, Head of the CAA’s Safety Regulation Group’s Licensing Standards Division, commented: “The aerodromes participating in the trial were selected for their spread of geographical location and mix of traffic. The decision to allow only UK registered aircraft to fly the approaches was driven by the need to ensure pilots are properly licensed, that the approaches would be flown in VMC only, and to reduce liability issues for all parties.”
For more details and to register for the trial, visit <a href=’http://www.gpstrials.leeds.ac.uk ‘ target=’_blank’>www.gpstrials.leeds.ac.uk </a>.
