The March to PBN

Many of us routinely use GPS as sole-source navigation throughout our flights. Congratulations; youre leveraging the benefits of Performance Based Navigation. Thats good. We have thousands of RNAV (GPS) approaches, many with vertical guidance, and theyre far safer, more reliable and more accurate than ground-based approaches. We often fly direct or nearly so. All these advances are reshaping the National Airspace System (NAS) and the way we fly IFR, but PBN is still young.

Key Takeaways:

• The FAA is implementing a multi-phase strategy (2016-2030) to transition the National Airspace System (NAS) to Performance Based Navigation (PBN), progressively phasing out ground-based navigation aids like VORs and NDBs.
• PBN, which combines RNAV and RNP, promises enhanced safety, accuracy, and efficiency through vertically-guided GPS approaches, optimized routing, reduced ATC complexity, and tighter separation standards, ultimately leading to more predictable operations.
• The PBN-centric NAS relies on the widespread adoption of advanced technologies including satellite-based navigation, electronic data communications between pilots and ATC, ADS-B Out, synthetic vision, and sophisticated decision-support tools for traffic management.
• This transition will require updated pilot training, evolve aircraft equipage requirements (e.g., LPV/LNAV/VNAV capability), and significantly reshape airspace design, replacing conventional routes and procedures with PBN-based point-to-point navigation and flexible routing.

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