RNP Speech for tomorrow

Attention Getter: How many of you have been going on vacation or traveling back to school on an airplane and thought, how does the airplane and the pilot know exactly where they are going? I am here today to talk to all of you about Require Navigation Performance, more commonly know as RNP.

Preview: Ever since air transportation began, airlines, pilots and air traffic controllers have been working on ways to increase the efficiency of flying. Many improvements were aimed at helping improve delays and save money for the airlines. The problem was, the new ideas were not utilizing the technology in many of today’s aircraft. Finally, RNP came along that helps planes fly more directly by utilizing built in technology.

Transition #1: For you to better understand this, I will go into more detail about the background, implementation and the benefits RNP has made over the past few years.

I. Background of RNP Required Navigation Performance (RNP) is defined by International Civil Aviation Organization as "navigation performance necessary for operation within a defined airspace". RNP is a method of implementing routes and flight paths into today’s airspace. Basically, the airplane must have the right equipment and that equipment must monitor and provide an alert to pilots if the airplane is not adhering to standards.. Most aircraft are directed by air traffic controllers using point-to-point navigation. This approach often results in an inefficient flight path that ignores the built-in technological capability of modern airliners. RNP is a way for pilots to navigate between waypoints in the sky, independent of ground-based navigational aids.To understand RNP operation it is equally as important to understand Area Navigation or RNAV. RNAV and RNP both rely on GPS. RNAV is a method of navigation that enables aircraft to fly on any desired flight paths within the coverage of reference navigation aids (NAVAIDS). Routes and procedures using RNAV provide improved access and flexibility through point-to-point navigation and are not restricted to the location of ground-based NAVAIDS. RNP operations are RNAV operations with navigation monitoring. Aircraft can be equipped with RNP through a Flight Management System or a GPS. This allows the aircraft to safely operate on routes with less separation than previously required.

Transition #2: If you are wondering where and how this became so utilized, I will now talk to you about the history and implementation of RNP

II. History and implementation of RNP

Alaska Airlines was the first to use RNP in Juneau a decade ago. These procedures were developed by Alaska Airlines and certified by the FAA to help the airline service “terrain-challenged airports in remote areas.” According to gpsworld.com. Its success in Alaska spread to the continental 48 states where the FAA began implementing RNP at some of the nation’s busiest airportsThe near-term period (2006-2010) focuses on taking advantage of the already installed technology in aircraft by making new arrival and departure procedures at busy airports such as Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport and JFK. The mid-term period (2011-15), anticipates many of America's 100 busiest airports will have RNAV approaches and departures, and a number of U.S. airports will have RNP procedures where their higher precision adds benefits. FAA planners see as many as 300 RNAV and 50 RNP approaches being added per year in that timeframe, and RNP operations becoming a standard procedure at high altitudeThey hope by 2025, RNAV would be required everywhere and RNP would be mandated in busy airspace. The rule-making process for these changes will hopefully begin in 2008.

Transition #3: Now that you know the long term goals of RNP, lets look at a few benefits to the program staying on track.

III. Benefits of RNP
1. safety and productivity benefits a. reduced radio communications, lowering chances to adhere to a wrong clearance or not here part of a clearance b. reduced workloads for the pilots to monitor the approach more thoroughly i. replaces more unreliable, non precision approaches
2. flight profile benefitsa. continuous climbs and descents for the airplanesi. more stabilized descents and approaches, resulting less rejected landings and missed approaches
3. route tracking benefitsa. time benefits, shorter flight timesb. environmental benefitsc. predictability and situational awareness
4. efficiency benefitsa. shorter time, better climb/descent segments result in lower fuel burni. According the FAA, the RNP approaches can save airlines 50$ per minute. b. improved pace of departures and arrivalsi. at LGA and JFK there is an average total delays of more than 28,000 minutes per year, resulting in a loss of almost 4 millions dollars yearly according the Port Authority of NY and NJc. increased capacity of airspaceConclusion: Hopefully this speech has intrigued some of into the world of aviation and increased your respect for the luxury most take for granted.

Review Statement: I hope you are now somewhat familiar with RNP, its implementation and its benefits. Memorable Closing: Next time you are at the airport and your flight arrives 5 minutes early, it is probably due to the success of RNP.


Works Cited
“GPS Insights.” Questex. 22 September 2007. <http://tl.gpsworld.com/gpstl/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=371152>

“New Performance in the Skies.” Mitre Corporation. 03 September 2003. 19 September 2007. http://www.mitre.org/news/digest/aviation/09_03/a_nrp.html

“Required Navigation Performance.” Federal Aviation Administration. 21 September 2007. http://www.faa.gov/ats/ato/rnp.htm

“RNP in Today’s Airspace.” Boeing Corporation. 21 September 2007. Jeppesen. Instrument Commercial Text. New York: 2006.

“Required Navigation Performance.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 03 September 2007. 22 September 2007.