…Expand Satellite Navigation

As AVweb reported last week, Boyer took Russ Chew, the FAA’s Chief Operating Officer, out for a spin in Boyer’s Cessna 172. But it was more than a sightseeing trip. Boyer’s Skyhawk is decked out in the latest GPS/WAAS gear for satellite-based precision approaches. In the Flight Plan comments, Boyer urges the addition of more GPS/WAAS approaches at GA airports to improve their utility and efficiency but noted that rules that were designed for major airports will prohibit many GA facilities (many of which don’t have ground-based ILS equipment) from getting the GPS approaches. For instance, the rules currently require full-length parallel taxiways and extensive clear zones. At many GA airports, those requirements are not financially or physically possible, but neither are they necessary, Boyer says.