Description

Performance based navigation (PBN) has a greater navigational/positional accuracy and containment that allows helicopters to operate in instrument meteorological conditions. The use of space-based augmentation system (SBAS) in suitably equipped helicopters requires less airspace.

Implementation

On the one hand the available technology and the equipment installed on commercial helicopters, in particular those of the latest generations, are making it easier to transition to PBN. On the other hand, however, the pace of implementation of PBN procedures by helicopter operators has been so far relatively slow. Some critical mass has developed, as the industry in general supports the PBN concept.