Helicopter IFR route between Muchamiel and Albacete

Abstract

This document exposes the procedures and results obtained for the design of a complete rotorcraft IFR route with PinS procedures under the framework of the HEDGE NEXT project, which is framed into the European 7th Framework Programme and the European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Agency activities. One of the project goals is completing the operational implementation of EGNOS operations into the rotorcraft domain, by supporting the certification of vehicles and validation of EGNOS enhanced operations from different operators spread over Europe. The main objective of this project is to design PinS approach at HELICSA's Albacete heliport, PinS departure at Muchamiel heliport and the IFR route joining these procedures. The procedure design process is performed under the highest levels of integrity, so the design itself and its associated data could be delivered to an AIP manager for publication. To achieve the objective, the first task was to review the current regulation and draft documents concerning the design of procedures for rotorcrafts. On the other hand, it was necessary to make some research of on-going projects addressing these or similar tasks. The design of the procedures was made in accordance with ICAO Doc 8168 and the available draft material in the IFPP working papers. CAD, spread sheet tools and GIS software were used to draw and keep record and control of the calculations, respectively. The existing spread sheets, used to obtain different parameters of the segments of the procedure, were improved with the formulae of the ICAO Doc 8168 and with new custom functions with the objective of automatizing the calculations to design the desired procedure. The obtained results show that the goal of defining EGNOS based procedures has been achieved. The approach's OCA/H was fixed at 2750 (520) feet. The departure's MCA was fixed at 2650 feet. It is expected that the above results may be improved in the future due to the open issues identified along the procedure design process.