Operator, Community Involvement Can Produce Optimized Performance-Based Navigation Procedures

Communicating the benefits of performance-based navigation (PBN) is among the significant challenges in implementing the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). However, airport and aircraft operators can facilitate wider public acceptance of NextGen by involving all stakeholders in pre-implementation planning of local ATC procedures.

FAA airspace designers, and airport and aircraft operators, aren’t the only PBN stakeholders.

“The critical importance of community involvement and outreach cannot be overstated,” said Bob Lamond, NBAA’s director of air traffic services and infrastructure.

Portland International Airport (PDX) is an example of how including all affected stakeholders during the pre-implementation planning phase resulted in optimized procedures that treated each of them fairly, said Jason Schwartz, senior noise analyst for the Port of Portland. Opposition gave way to understanding when community representatives could see how each of the stakeholders traded pure efficiency for an optimized procedure that preserved safety and provided an equitable outcome for all involved.

“The efficiency gains were not as dramatic as they may have been with major shifts in flight paths, but early on all stakeholders committed to compromises and win-win outcomes wherever possible," he said.

Airports are the nexus of such efforts, but aircraft operators can help by volunteering to participate and contributing the data necessary for the pre- and post-implementation analysis of the PBN procedures, measuring each option by aircraft-specific flight time, track distance, fuel burn, emissions and noise.

Another example of positive involvement is the Chicago Area Business Aviation Association’s contribution to the improvement of ATC procedures in the Chicago area. For more than a decade, the group’s ATC Committee has participated in the O’Hare Modernization Program, and its input led to the creation of standard ATC procedures for Chicago’s satellite airports, said Mark Zakula, committee chairman.

For example, when discussing a procedure for Chicago Executive Airport, rather than flying up Lake Michigan at 3,000 feet, the committee suggested flying over the Class B airspace and then turning back. “We’re flying farther, but we’re high and fast,” so this solution optimized the needs of both airports, said Zakula.