The project Augmented Approaches to Land (AAL) is a Large-Scale Demonstration within the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) programme of the European Commission. AAL mainly focuses on the testing of new precise landing approach procedures, which are based on the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) and the Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) at the airports of Bremen, Frankfurt and Zurich. These trials are conducted by the airports, the ANSPs DFS and skyguide, and the airlines Lufthansa and Swiss. In addition, Honeywell tests new systems for the depiction of approach paths in the cockpit (Synthetic Vision Guidance System, SVGS).
The Institute of Flight Guidance is involved in this project in two studies, which it is conducting together with NetJets. In the first study, the additional costs associated with the certification of an existing GBAS approach as an SBAS approach are determined. In the second study, new curved approach procedures based on SBAS are investigated for their potential to improve the accessibility of small airports, which are mainly used by business aviation, in the vicinity of large airports used by airlines.
Today many business aviation aircraft are equipped with SBAS. Only very few airliners are equipped with SBAS, while more and more are being equipped with GBAS. Hence GBAS approaches proliferate at airports served by airlines. But GBAS approaches cannot be used by business aviation as these are seldom equipped with GBAS. This is the reason for determining the additional costs of certifying an existing GBAS approach as an SBAS approach. This way, both GBAS and SBAS equipped aircraft, i.e. both airliners and business aircraft, could use identical approach procedures in which the route and the altitude profile would be exactly the same.
SBAS, especially when combined with exactly defined curve paths, enables the definition of approach procedures within boundaries that are much tighter than for legacy approach procedures. In the congested airspaces around major airports this enables tightly defined approach procedures leading to small airfields used exclusively by business aviation. This means that traffic into the small airfield can be separated from traffic into the major airport without the long detours common today in these cases.
Airbus ANS CR Dassault Aviation DFS DLR Institute of Flight Guidance DSNA EBAA Elbit Systems Airport Bremen Airport Zürich Airport Frankfurt Honeywell Aerospace Lufthansa NetJets Europe (Coordinator) Skyguide Swiss