THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has issued a formal type certificate for Boeing's future air-navigation system (FANS-1) installation package for Rolls-Royce-powered Boeing 747-400s. The system provides for automatic position reporting and other operational communication by satellite from anywhere in the world.
The FANS-1 incorporates a comprehensive flight-management-system upgrade, dual global-positioning-system (GPS) satellite communications capability and a flightdeck printer. The system allows aircraft to relay flight information continuously to air traffic control.
The approval followed ground and flight tests, conducted aboard a Qantas Airways aircraft over several months - several of them on revenue operations. Australian Civil Aviation Authority approval was simultaneous.
Immediately following the approval, Qantas conducted its first pre-implementation FANS-1 demonstration on a revenue flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.
Qantas' Capt David Massy-Greene says: "The flight demonstrated that the system is here and that it's running. Quite a few people thought we'd never make it, but it was a complete success."
In preparation for the transpacific proving flight, the required navigational performance (RNP) in the aircraft's flight-management system was deliberately reset from the normally required RNP value of 12nm (22km) to 1nm, to trigger warnings if that value was exceeded. During the 12h 41min flight, performance was well within the required parameters.
The FANS' datalink capabilities allowed the flight to use a "flex-track" route which exceeded the great-circle distance by 485km, but reduced flight time by over 30min by optimising wind effects.
Boeing says that the GPS aspects of the system are now also certificated to allow area-navigation precision approaches to decision altitude, when the flight- management computer determines that the necessary satellite geometry is available.
The manufacturer has contracted United Airlines and Air New Zealand to conduct in-service certification trials on Pratt & Whitney-engine 747-400 and General Electric-powered variants.
Source: Flight International
