Punta Cana Airport to install Honeywell's SmartPath Ground-Based Augmentation System

SOURCE Honeywell Aerospace

SmartPath technology will help improve passenger experience and increase on-time arrivals at Punta Cana airport

PHOENIX, March 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell Aerospace (NYSE: HON) has been selected by the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation to install its SmartPath Ground-Based Augmentation System at Punta Cana International Airport. The system is designed to help reduce flight delays for passengers, while helping airline operators reduce fuel costs and traffic congestion.

As the world's only U.S. Federal Aviation Administration-certified Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS), Honeywell's SmartPath technology provides a cost-effective and easy-to-implement digital precision navigation solution to increase airport capacity, decrease air traffic noise and reduce weather-related delays. It also reduces operating costs for both the aircraft operator and air navigation service providers, allowing pilots to make more accurate and quicker approaches and landings.

"As the skies of the Dominican Republic get busier and airport traffic rises, Honeywell SmartPath will help pilots land more efficiently and safely," said Pat Reines, senior manager, SmartPath, Honeywell Aerospace. "This level of investment in GBAS technology will help the country's airport infrastructure grow alongside its visitors' appetite for travel to the region."

"We are committed to investing in the latest technologies to improve our airports' infrastructure and make the Dominican Republic one of the safest destinations in the region," said Dr. Alejandro Herrera, director general, Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation. "As the most visited tourist destination in the Caribbean, this means we are well-equipped to provide greater assurance against unnecessary travel disruptions due to weather impacts on flights."

SmartPath transmits digital data to the aircraft. Unlike the beams of energy sent by traditional Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), Honeywell's GBAS is immune to interference from weather, other aircraft and rugged terrain. The GBAS technology also helps increase operational efficiency, allowing an aircraft to fly either complex or straight-in approaches, which helps reduce fuel costs and unnecessary flight delays.

Also unlike ILS, which supports a single precision approach to one runway end, one SmartPath system can simultaneously provide up to 48 separate approaches covering all runway ends. This allows air traffic control to be more flexible with approaches, increasing airport capacity and enabling greater flexibility during different operating conditions.

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...vice_units/techops/navservices/gnss/faq/laas/

http://www.ktbs.com/story/31462799/...lic-with-its-digital-precision-landing-system

Tashi Siu's Dad said:

If they plan on landing more flights/day than they already are landing, then I don't see how it's going to improve the sound level here in Bavaro/Punta Cana due to arriving and departing aircraft. Sounds good on paper, but in reality?

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That's the whole point of introducing this system. Planes actually loiter less in the surrounding airspace they aim to land at and therefore there's a noticeable reduction of jet engine noise.

beeza said:

Can't quite understand why. The weather is hardly bad enough at PUJ to require a precision approach and there is no terrain in the surrounding area as an immediate threat, unlike POP.

There are times when PUJ is already at capacity. Aircraft have to wait on the taxiway with the engines burning, waiting for a parking stand. And the passenger experience is not a pleasant one either. Some pax take over two hours to leave the terminal once they have disembarked the plane. Not fun spending all that time in the queue for immigration, customs and the baggage hall, with no air conditioning.

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Winds and rain are two of the most common factors that delay/interrupt landing/departure operations after congestion in these types of tropical airports.

The system will reduce the misgivings and allow for more flights to practically land on cue one after the other.

Each airport where this new system has been installed, all have improved dramatically their loiter time and improved their landings within the best time savings. This saves money to both the airport and to airliners, not to mention happier travelers with more time to spend at their destinations.

beeza said:

When it's windy, no amount of automation will improve the landings. You hold on to yer hats and hope the person behind the wheel can pull it off.

Rain has zero effect on flying aircraft.

The only weather factor that affects tropical airports are local storms or hurricanes. If you have a dirty great CB (cumulonimbus) sat over your airfield, the airfield is closed. Period. No pilot will attempt an approach if there are storms in the vicinity. Aircraft radars are very good at seeing bad weather.

These precision approach aids are for when visibility is bad. In first world countries aircraft land themselves automatically when the visibility get below minimums. The pilots then become passengers too!

I doubt very much the DR will ever have a runway with Cat 3 land capability.

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Communications (rain).

Wind (approach to land).