Operational Procedures — Page 43, Lesson 66

I want to walk you through the pre-flight planning requirements and the special airspace operations that an operator must consider before dispatching a flight. Let's start with the general planning items. First, the equipment fitted to the aeroplanes to be used must meet the minimum requirements for the planned operations. That means the aircraft itself has to be properly equipped for the specific type of flight you intend to conduct — whether it's a short domestic leg or a long oceanic crossing. Second, appropriate maps and charts must be available, and this includes the relevant FMS database. FMS stands for Flight Management System — that's the onboard computer that helps with navigation and flight planning. So you need both paper charts and an up-to-date electronic navigation database loaded into the aircraft's systems. Third, if you're operating twin-engine aeroplanes, adequate aerodromes must be available for diversion in the event of an emergency, and those aerodromes must be within the defined time or distance limitations. This is the foundation of ETOPS-type thinking — ensuring that if one engine fails, you have a place to land within a certain time. Fourth, if single-engine aeroplanes are used, surfaces must be available which permit a safe forced landing. With only one engine, if it fails, you're going down — so you need terrain below that allows a survivable landing. Now let's move to RVSM operations. RVSM stands for Reduced Vertical Separation Minima. This is now the generally accepted method of applying vertical separation between aircraft operating between FL290 and FL410. FL means Flight Level — so from 29,000 feet up to 41,000 feet. In that band, instead of the old 2,000-foot vertical separation, RVSM allows 1,000-foot separation, which doubles the number of usable flight levels. Before an operator can fly routes at flight levels where RVSM is applied, approval must be granted by the Authority — that's the national civil aviation authority — and that approval must be noted in the AOC, the Air Operator Certificate. Basically, the crew must be trained in RVSM procedures, and the aircraft must be equipped with A/TCAS — that's Airborne Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System — plus an altitude reporting SSR system, which is Secondary Surveillance Radar that tells air traffic control your exact altitude. The aircraft must also have an autopilot 'height lock' with an altitude deviation alerting system, which can be either audio or visual. That system keeps the aircraft precisely at the assigned altitude and warns the crew if it drifts off. Next, operations in MNPS airspace. MNPS stands for Minimum Navigational Performance Specification. Certain specified areas of airspace are designated as MNPS areas where special navigational requirements exist. A classic example is the North Atlantic, which is covered in depth later in these notes. Due to the lack of ground-based radio navigation aids — there are no VORs or NDBs out over the ocean — and the high level of traffic density, standards for determination of position and track need to be specified. All aircraft operating in these areas must comply with those standards. The Authority will give approval, again noted in the AOC, for operators to conduct operations in MNPS airspace. So to summarise: before any flight, you check equipment, charts, and diversion options based on engine count. For high-level operations between FL290 and FL410, you need RVSM approval with trained crew and specific equipment including TCAS, altitude-reporting SSR, and autopilot height lock with deviation alerting. And for special oceanic or remote airspace like the North Atlantic, you need MNPS approval to meet the required navigational performance standards.