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 actively decommissioning older, ground-based navigation aids like ILS due to high maintenance costs, aging equipment (over 70% beyond service life), and operational limitations.
LPV (Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance) approaches, powered by GPS/WAAS, are becoming the dominant and preferred alternative, offering significant cost savings, enhanced safety through vertical guidance, and greater versatility compared to ILS.
The FAA plans to "rationalize" (decommission) Category I ILS approaches, particularly at airports where LPVs provide sufficient redundancy, with projections indicating over 200 ILS approaches could be cut in the next five years.
This strategic shift marks the beginning of the end for ILS as the primary instrument approach, as LPVs already outnumber ILS approaches 3:1 and offer compelling operational and financial benefits.

See a mistake? Contact us.

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.