Northern Air Cargo Flying New, More Cost Efficient Routes with WAAS

June 3, 2009 – Northern Air Cargo, an air freight carrier based in Anchorage, Alaska, has been certified to begin flying with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).  Northern Air Cargo is the first Boeing 737-200 in the U.S. to apply for and acquire supplemental type certification to fly with full WAAS capability.

Equipped to use the extremely accurate navigation service provided by WAAS, Northern Air Cargo can now take advantage of WAAS approach procedures, utilize low and high altitude routes throughout Alaska that require WAAS equipage, and take advantage of other benefits enabled by WAAS.  For more information, please see links below.

• Northern Air Cargo Announcement
• More information on Northern Air Cargo and WAAS

New GPS Satellites L5 Capability Will Further Enhance WAAS

April 10, 2009 – Today, a recently launched GPS satellite, broadcast the first-ever GPS signal on a new frequency, referred to as L5. This milestone signifies the beginning of a new era of GPS capability that will enhance the performance of both GPS and WAAS for all users. For more information, please see links below.

• L5 GPS Signal Now Being Transmitted from IIR(M)-20 Satellite
• First of New Generation of GPS Satellites Launched Into Orbit

Airbus to Incorporate Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) Capability on New Aircraft

March 1, 2009 - Airbus is planning to install SBAS capability on its A350 XWB aircraft. For more information, please see related article - Airbus To Install SBAS in A350XWB.

Wide Area Augmentation System Now Available for Learjet 40 XR and Learjet 45 XR Aircraft

February 3, 2009 – Bombardier Aerospace announced today that it is now offering a Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) capable Flight Management System (FMS) on Learjet 40 XR and Learjet 45 XR aircraft. The new system is available as a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for in-service Learjet 40, Learjet 40 XR, Learjet 45 and Learjet 45 XR aircraft customers and will also be offered as an option on new aircraft. If you would like to read the full article, please click here.

WAAS and NetJets

December 10, 2008 – The FAA's NextGen Program signed an agreement to implement aspects of the program with NetJets Aviation on December 10. The wide area augmentation system (WAAS) has been mentioned as one of the key technologies of use for this joint venture. If you would like to read the full article at Focus FAA, please click here.

WAAS Turns "5"

July 10, 2008 – Five years ago today, WAAS was commissioned into the National Airspace System. Since that time, WAAS has enabled many benefits to the aviation community and continues to evolve.

• Please see related story, "Five Years on, WAAS is a Proven Success".

New ICAO Flight Plan Format Coming for RNAV Enroute Procedures

There is a change coming on June 5th in the manner which pilots have to file flight plans if they plan on filing RNAV (GPS) instrument procedures for their navigation. Pilots have to submit the ICAO, vice the FAA flight plan form, in order to get the flight plan accepted due to recent changes to the air traffic control software. While this is not specifically a SATNAV issue, it does affect SATNAV users, so we wanted to provide our subscribers with this information and point you in the right direction for more information. More information can be found in the FAA Air Traffic Bulletin issued on March 8, 2008. The link to the bulletin is provided below.

• New RNAV Flight Plan Filing Requirements Effective 5 June

WAAS Service Expanded into Canada and Mexico

September 28, 2007 - Today, the FAA GNSS Program Office announced that WAAS service is now available to users throughout Canada and Mexico.

Click image for a bigger picture

This expansion was achieved by the integration of nine new international wide-area reference stations (WRS) into the WAAS network. The new WRSs are located in Canada (Goosebay, Gander, Winnipeg, and Iqualuit) and in Mexico (Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, Mérida, Tapachula, and San Jose del Cabo). In addition to extending WAAS coverage to users throughout Canada and Mexico, this expansion also benefits WAAS users within the U.S. who were formerly on the fringes of WAAS coverage.

The incorporation of the Canadian and Mexican WRSs meets two of the FAA Administrator’s Flight Plan goals for 2007. The first flight plan goal required that four of the international WRSs be operational by the end of September 2007. The second goal required that the remaining five international WRSs be operational by December 2007, a goal which was met four months ahead of schedule.

This significant milestone for satellite navigation would not have been possible without the commitment and valuable contributions of the Canadian and Mexican aviation authorities who have supported this work at the highest levels under the auspices of the North American Aviation Trilateral Agreement.

For real-time WAAS coverage, please visit the Real-Time WAAS Vertical Navigation Snapshot Display page.

For information on WAAS approach procedures currently available, please visit our GPS/WAAS Approaches page.

INMARSAT AOR-W satellite (PRN # 122) and POR satellite (PRN #134) to be phased out

July 2007 (Update) - The Atlantic Ocean Region - West (AOR-W) satellite represented by PRN #122 and the Pacific Ocean Region (POR) satellite represented by PRN #134 will cease WAAS signal-in-space (SIS) transmission on July 30th, 2007.

New WAAS GEO broadcast to begin in July

July 2007 - The WAAS broadcast from the Telesat geostationary satellite (PRN #138) will be operation (in Normal mode) and usable by WAAS avionics receivers on July 11. The orbital location of Telesat provides even better WAAS performance to the East Coast (high elevation) and also extends WAAS signal-in-space (SIS) coverage into northeastern Canada.

Test of future performance enhancements of WAAS to temporarily limit coverage in the Northeast  

Between April 16th and 23rd, the FAA will be conducting a test of upcoming performance enhancements on the newest Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) GEO satellite, the Intelsat Galaxy XV.

WAAS aviation coverage during April 2007 testing

During this test, the Galaxy XV satellite will be unusable by aviation users. The POR & AOR-W satellites will continue to broadcast corrections and integrity information for GPS.

WAAS aviation coverage to the Northeast will resume following testing

Garmin® Receives WAAS Certification for GNS 400W/500W series  

November 9, 2006 - The GNS 400/500 series have earned the FAA's TSO C146a Gamma-3 certification, which enables pilots who upgrade their Garmin receiver to fly Localizer Performance with Vertical (LPV) guidance approaches and receive GPS navigation via the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). This upgrade will allow thousands of Garmin 400 or 500 series receivers to utilize WAAS starting in 2007. For more information, please click here for the Garmin news release.

WAAS approved for new, lower minimums 

March 2006 - In a major step that expands the benefits of satellite navigation for aviation users, the Federal Aviation Administration has announced lower localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) approach minima through the use of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).  WAAS is now approved to provide guidance down to 200 feet above an airport’s surface for LPV instrument approaches. 

• FAA Announces Major Milestone for Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)
• AOPA Welcomes Improved WAAS Minima

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