Author: Wg Cdr Rajagopal

Electronic Flight Information System Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS) Electronic Flight Management System interacts with Flight Management System to provide outputs on a plasma display. EFIS consists of Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator, Electronic Attitude Direction Indicator, Control Panel, Symbol Generator and the Remote Light Sensor Colour Coding in EFIS Red, Yellow, Green, Blue Magenta and Green colours are used in airbus aircrafts Red indicates Warnings, Flight Envelopes and System Limits while Yellow is used for Cautions and Abnormal Sources Green is used for indicating Selected Mode and Blue is used…

Flight Management System (FMS) Introduction to Flight Management System Flight Management System (FMS) provides Continuous Automatic Navigation, Guidance and Performance Management. FMS System comprises of Two flight management computers, Three inertial reference systems and Global Positioning System Flight Management System can operate in Lateral Navigation (LNav) mode to provide Track, Heading and Radial maintenance Vertical Navigation (VNav) in FMS helps in Optimum Climb, Cruise and Descent profiles Lateral Navigation (LNav) and Vertical Navigation (VNav) Lateral Navigation includes Take Off, Standard Instrument Departure (SID), En-route Way Points, Standard Arrival Route (STAR),…

Area Navigation System Area Navigation Systems (RNav) Area Navigation is a system which permits aircraft to fly on any desired track using VOR-DME or self-contained navigational aids like INS or both Phantom Stations generated by RNav as a bearing and distance from VOR-DME station assists in flying tracks without checking overhead a VOR Required Navigation Performance (RNP) is the standard of accuracy required while flying RNav routes Accuracy is defined on the basis of 95 % probability in both lateral as well as longitudinal directions For example, RNP 5 means…

GBAS-ABAS-SBAS Augmented GPS or Differential GPS Augmented or Differential GPS improves the accuracy of GPS to the level of precision approach aid as well as warns in case of GPS failure Differential GPS could be GBAS, ABAS or SBAS based on the technology employed for augmentation Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) or Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) Air Based Augmentation System (ABAS) using Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) or Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) provides…

Global Navigation Satellite System Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Global Positioning System (GPS) is the most commonly used Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in Civil Aviation GPS provides Standard Position Service of 30M for all users and Precision Position Service with an accuracy of 1M for US Military Forces Russian GLONASS, European GALILEO, Chinese BEIDOU and Indian INSAT are other operational GNSS systems Satellites called as Space Vehicles used in GNSS follow Kepler’s laws of planetary motion GPS Position Reference System is referenced to centre of earth in three dimensions…

Radio Altimeter Radio Altimeter Radio Altimeter provides accurate height of aircraft above ground level using Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) transmission In addition to providing height when aircraft is between 50 – 2500 Feet AGL, it also provides height information to Auto Land system and GPWS Since the minimum pulse width possible by pulse radar is half micro second, pulse radars are unsuitable for height measurement less than 250 feet Therefore, Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave on SHF band on 4200-4400 MHz frequencies Radio Altimeter accuracy is the higher of 3%…