AAI first time successfully conducts flight trials using 'GAGAN'

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Airports Authority of India (AAI) successfully test fired at Kishangarh airport in Rajasthan using GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) based LPV approach procedures.

• The successful test is a major achievement and a major milestone in the field of Air Navigation Services (ANS) in the history of Indian Civil Aviation.

• India is the first country in the Asia Pacific Region to achieve such a landmark.

• What is LPV (Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance)

• LPV is a Satellite Based Procedure which has been used by the aircraft for landing purposes at Kishangarh Airport (Rajasthan).

• It permits aircraft guided approaches that are operationally nearly equivalent to Cat-IILS, without the need for ground-based navigational infrastructure. 

• The service depends on the availability of GPS and GAGAN geostationary satellites (GSAT-8, GSAT-10 and GSAT-15) launched by ISRO.

• Significance

• The LPV approach will make it possible to land at airports that are not equipped with expensive instrument landing systems, including many smaller regional and local airports.

• AAI in coordination with Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has implemented Gagan Message Service (GMS) through which alert messages will be sent to fishermen disaster affected people on occurrence of natural calamities like flood, earthquake etc.

• Additional capabilities of GAGAN are also being explored for its use in non-aviation sectors like railways, surveying, agriculture, power sector, mining etc.

• About GAGAN

• It is an Indian Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) jointly developed by AAI and ISRO.

• This is the first such system developed for India and neighbouring countries in the equatorial region.

• GAGAN System was certified by DGCA in 2015 for Approach with Vertical Guidance (APV 1) and en-route (RNP 0.1) operations.

• There are only four Space-Based augmentation systems available in the world - 

1. India (GAGAN), 

2. US (WAAS) 

3. Europe (EGNOS) and 

4. Japan (MSAS).