Technical and economic viability of the implementation of approach systems (radio aids) in regional airfields (Viseu airfield case study)

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Pedro Manuel Pimenta da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/10626
• topic: Aeródromo Regional; Desenvolvimento Regional; Rádio-Ajudas; Segurança; Sistemas de Aproximação; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Aeronáutica

Despite all the efforts made by various institutions towards aeronautical safety, accidents and incidents are likely to happen at any time and under any circumstance. Around half of these accidents, at a commercial level, tend to occur during the approach and landing phases. Approach systems were developed with the main objective to improve the safety index in these flight phases, reducing the inherent risks of its complexity. This equipment can be categorised as precision providing course guidance and glidepath and non-precision providing course guidance only. When we talk about air transportation, it’s hard not to associate the theme to the big airports in the world. Despite of them representing a crucial part of all the aeronautical industry, regional airports and airfields can’t be ignored, because they also reach unmatchable levels of importance for the people and the regions they represent. The case study utilised was Viseu airfield, and to confirm its importance for the region, the biggest local companies were inquired. After 19 answers, it was possible to confirm the relevance the airfield has or could have, being the preferential choice compared to the international airports of Oporto and Lisbon. The main objective of this work was to demonstrate to what extent the implementation of one of those approach systems in the airfield is viable, and which one would be the better option for this case, from a technical and economic view. The systems analysed for this study were ILS and GBAS, both precision equipment. After a technical and economic analysis, revealing the technical characteristics of the airfield, as well as its revenue from the charged fees, allied with an 80% funded project with a six-year investment recovery forecast, it was concluded that GBAS would be the most suitable option. GLS approach charts were then elaborated, based on already existing GNSS charts in the airfield.