IndiGo has landed the flight for the first time using satellite based landing system. Apart from India, America, Europe and Japan have this technology. This technology has been jointly developed by ISRO and AAI.
IndiGo on Thursday successfully landed a trial flight at Kishangarh Airport in Rajasthan with the help of India-made satellite based augmented system ‘Gagan’ (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation). It is being seen as a major achievement in the field of air navigation system.
Apart from India, this technology has been used only in the US, Europe and Japan. The system has been jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Institute (ISRO) and the Airport Authority of India (AAI). It has been tested on IndiGo’s ATR-72 aircraft. IndiGo Director and CEO Ronjoy Dutta said that ‘Gagan’ will prove to be a game changer for civil aviation. He said that this will modernize air travel.
What will help
This system was given permission by DGCA in 2015 for Approach with Vertical Guidance (APV-1) and En-route (RNP 0.1) operation. Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance (LPV) helps the aircraft to land without any ground-based navigation infrastructure. This service depends on GPS and ‘Gagan’ Jio Stationary Satellites.
Gagan’ will give lateral and vertical instructions for landing the aircraft with the help of navigation. As soon as this technology gets the final permission, it will be made available for use in all commercial airlines of the country.
This will make it easier for flights to land at airports where expensive landing systems do not exist. Also, it is believed that it will reduce the problem of delay in flights and increase fuel economy.
DGCA order The
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July last year had ordered all registered aircraft in the country to be equipped with the ‘Gagan’ system. It was said in the statement that this technology will prove useful at small airports. It is worth noting that DGCA officials were also sitting in Indigo’s trial flight.
AAI also developed technology for fishermen
AAI has also launched ‘Gagan’ message service in association with Indian National Center for Oceanic Information Service. Through this, alert messages will be sent to fishermen and disaster-affected people during natural calamities like floods and earthquakes.
