Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews March 5, 2013 Honeywell and Airports Authority of India will sign a contract on March 6 – under the US-India Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP) – for a Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) system at Chennai International Airport, Aerospace Diary learns. USTDA, had in 2011, concluded an agreement for $407,325 to support AAI’s efforts to install and commission a pilot at Chennai. AAI will pay approximately Rs 5 crores for the equipment, which an official says is a “discounted price.” A maintenance contract has yet to be signed. Honeywell’s SmartPath Precision Landing System is a CAT I certified GBAS solution for precision approach and landings, enabling aircraft to fly either complex or straight-in approaches. Easy to install, it is expected to have major cost savings compared to Instrument Landing Systems (ILS). It is also more flexible than ILS – one GBAS can broadcast 26 unique approaches covering all runways at an airport. The ILS covers only one end of o...