The world's biggest single transition to a reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) upper airspace environment has gone "quite smoothly", according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.
During the night of 19/20 January the whole of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean implemented RVSM simultaneously, with six new flight levels becoming available between 29,000ft and 41,000ft (8,840m and 12,500m) by reducing the permitted minimum vertical clearance between aircraft cruising levels from 2,000ft to 1,000ft.
The FAA and NavCanada say neither ground-based monitoring systems nor air traffic controllers had reported any operational errors late last week.
Both air navigation service providers say it is too early to assess whether delays have been reduced, with the FAA commenting that RVSM would not have made any difference to weather-related delays last week. NavCanada, however, promises carriers $22 million savings from fuel economies in the first year.
The FAA says it has no figures for the number of "non-RVSM" aircraft - those not equipped with the more accurate altimetry and autopilot systems required. But it says that, in the first few days, controllers reported "fewer pilots than expected" using flight levels between FL250 and FL280, where non-RVSM aircraft would fly.
RVSM was introduced in North Atlantic oceanic airspace in 1997, was progressively applied in the Pacific, Europe in January 2002, and widely since then. As the major ATC exhibition at Maastrich, Netherlands opens its doors on 1 February, almost all the world's upper skies will have settled into RVSM.
DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Source: Flight International
