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By Mike Mitchell |
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January 12, 2010 - "Horizon Air has long been committed to innovation
and technical excellence, and we're particularly proud to be
spearheading the use of this new technology, which holds the promise of
benefiting many thousands of customers in years to come," said Jeff
Pinneo, president and CEO. On Dec. 30, 2009, Horizon Air became the
first scheduled-service passenger carrier to operate a flight using Wide
Area Augmentation System (WAAS) technology. The flight, on the airline's
popular
An aircraft utilizing WAAS can, in some cases, land in adverse weather
conditions with as little as a half-mile of visibility at 200 feet of
altitude – conditions that would deter aircraft not similarly equipped. |
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WAAS builds on Horizon's previous advances – made in conjunction with
its sister airline, Alaska Airlines – in Flight Management System (FMS)
technology, such as Required Navigational Performance (RNP) and Global
Positioning System (GPS) satellite networks. In 2006, Horizon became the
first regional carrier to be certified for RNP approaches, which use a
combination of onboard navigation technology and GPS. WAAS takes that a
step further by using additional satellites that monitor GPS satellite
signals; it then corrects for any errors in GPS satellite position.
The new WAAS instrument approach is known as "localizer performance with
vertical guidance" (LPV). Unlike RNP approaches, which are only
available for use at airports after an extensive certification process,
WAAS approaches can be used at any airport where the navigation database
has been updated.
There are now more LPV approaches available in
Currently, Horizon has one WAAS-equipped Q400, with a flight management
system developed by Universal Avionics, a manufacturer of advanced
avionics equipment based in
Horizon serves 48 cities throughout |
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