The US Federal Aviation Administration successfully demonstrated the wide-area augmentation system (WAAS) in Mexico on 23 September.
In the test, a NAVCANADA Bombardier Canadair Challenger using the WAAS was flown on approaches to Tijuana International Airport. The FAA says the flight evaluation is "the first big step" towards establishing a seamless satellite-based air navigation system across North America.
The WAAS, under development by Hughes, is planned to be a network of ground stations which can receive, analyse and refine signals from global-positioning-system satellites and transmit air-navigation information to aircraft.
The Challenger was flown on Category 1 approaches into the airport using signals sent by the FAA-developed National Satellite Test Bed, a forerunner of the WAAS.
The WAAS network is planned to consist of 35 ground-reference stations, plus ground and satellite communications systems.
Source: Flight International
