Procedures and technologies demonstrated within GRADE will allow:
- providing more accurate positioning of the aircraft during the approach and geometrical vertical guidance during the final approach segment;
- increasing the pilots’ situational awareness both in lateral and vertical plane, the overall navigational and terrain awareness, thus reducing the risk of Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) events;
- reducing the approach minima with respect to conventional NPA procedures, consequently enabling successful approaches in conditions that may otherwise cause delay, diversion or cancellation;
o increasing flexibility in planning arrival paths in terminal airspace
Expected benefits from GRADE Project
Expected outcomes of the project will comprehend performance measures, safety assessment and human performance evaluations. System performance will be expressed in terms of navigation precision of satellite based position system, including comparisons among different navigation positioning solutions. Safety assessment will be expressed in terms of reliability of the proposed solutions, as well as in terms of capacity to manage non-nominal and failure conditions. Human performance measures will apply to workload and situational awareness of both pilot and air traffic controllers.
GRADE will perform demonstrations of GNSS and SNI application in GA and Rotorcraft activities, composed of both real-time simulations and flight trials. The flight tests will be carried out at two different locations, with different vehicles (two different fixed wing aircraft and one rotorcraft), and will produce data and sound results that can be used to support regulation, standardisation and certification needs for GA and rotorcraft.
Improve safety and airport accessibility of GA and Rotorcraft to:
- regional and small non-instrumented airports;
- large airports not equipped with the ILS system;
- major ILS equipped airports (for GA and rotorcraft not equipped with ILS airborne devices).
Performance improvements resulting from the in-flight demonstration of both technologies and procedures will be evaluated by using quantitative indicators related to the following relevant KPAs identified in the European ATM Master Plan:
- Safety, in terms of prevention of accidents due to GNSS system precision positioning measures and airspace de-confliction of low altitude airways due to PinS procedures
- Capacity, throughput increase thanks to additional airspace users.
The following ICAO and SESAR KPAs will be considered, in terms of impact that the proposed solutions could positively introduce:
- Operational efficiency, in terms of fuel burn per flight;
- Human performance, in terms of pilots and ATCO workload and situational awareness;
- Equity, in terms of integration of all airspace users (including general aviation and rotorcraft) in non-discriminatory manner.