ILS on the Block

In 2015, the FAA began looking to rationalize ILS approaches. In this context, rationalize means cut. The following year, the FAA developed a cost/benefit quantitative model and conducted an analysis at about 2900 airports with few or no RNAV SIDs or STARs. The finished product was a plan to decommission Cat I ILS approaches at some of these airports between 2020-2030. Before a decision was reached, the project was shelved in 2017.

Fred Simonds

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA is systematically decommissioning older ground-based navigation aids (NDBs, VORs) due to age and high maintenance costs, extending this trend to the Instrument Landing System (ILS).
Most ILS equipment is beyond its service life and expensive to maintain, while LPV (Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance) approaches are software-based, significantly cheaper, and operationally superior.
LPV approaches now vastly outnumber ILS approaches, providing high-quality vertical guidance at more locations and becoming the preferred choice for many pilots due to their operational advantages.
The FAA plans to "rationalize" (decommission) Category I ILS approaches, particularly where LPVs offer redundant vertical guidance, to achieve cost savings while maintaining or increasing access to vertically guided approaches.

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First, the FAA decommissioned 479 NDB procedures in 2005, saving around $8 million a year. The under-300 associated stations owned by the FAA were far beyond their planned 20-year service lives. Then they implemented the VOR Minimum Operational Network (MON) Program to retask and reshape Victor airways into a downsized backup network should GPS fail. That plan will decommission 311 VORs by 2025.

The FAA wants as many approaches with vertical guidance as possible. Statistics show that a pilot is four times more likely to have a CFIT accident flying a non-precision approach than one offering vertical guidance. Having trimmed the low-hanging fruit, the FAA is looking at the Sacred Cow, the ILS.