Toward Independent Segmented Parallel Approaches—An initial Assessment of Collision Risks

Abstract

For upcoming decades, air traffic is forecasted to grow significantly. Airport capacity as well as environmental issues, especially noise mitigation, can be identified as major challenges that aviation will face. One way to deal with these challenges is the development of new operational procedures based on satellite navigation. The implementation of either a Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) with an advanced functionality or Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures has the potential to facilitate the design of more flexible and noise mitigating procedures. But for safety reasons independent parallel approaches can only be conducted when performing straight precision approaches according to ICAO guidelines. To pave the way toward independent segmented parallel approaches, a main safety aspect is going to be addressed in this work: the risk of collisions due to aircraft deviations toward the parallel approach path—so called blunders. To evaluate their influence on overall safety, a blunder analysis for the safety critical part of a segmented approach is performed in this work. A method for the determination of collision risks is going to be developed, and first results are going to be presented.