Air China Begins RNP Approach at Tibet's Nyingchi Airport

Air China has fitted four B-757s with RNP (required navigation performance) capability to enable them to fly a route into Tibet's mountainous Nyingchi Prefecture close to India and Myanmar.

Nyingchi is the third civilian airport located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, after Lhasa and Qamdo, to use the more accurate navigation procedures that were developed with the help of Naverus.  Because of its location in challenging terrain, which often experiences poor weather conditions, the airport is considered difficult to fly into and has been frequently closed to fight operations.

Besides helping to develop the RNP procedures that Air China is now using, Naverus also provided guidance to the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) as it authored that nation's regulations for RNP, and collaborated with that agency and the FAA to review China's first-ever application for RNP operations approval.

Air China's B-757s are equipped with multiple-sensor FMS (flight management systems) and GPS to allow the aircraft to fly complex approach and departure flight profiles, with a substantially greater accuracy than is possible with simple RNAV (area navigation).  RNP ensures that the aircraft follows the required vertical, as well as horizontal flight profiles by continuously comparing aircraft position to defined containment boundaries and alerting the pilots of any deviations.

According to the Xinhua news agency, equipping the B-757s cost 24 million yuan (about $ 3 million U.S.).  09-04-2006.

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