Alaska Airlines' sister carrier, Horizon Air, has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin using its proprietary Required Navigation Performance (RNP) instrument approach procedure at Friedman Memorial Airport near Sun Valley. The procedure is expected to reduce weather-related diversions by 95 percent allowing Horizon to have the best access to Sun Valley of any airline. It is projected to reduce diversions for Horizon from an average of 40 to 50 per year down to one to two estimated diversions per year.

 

RNP technology allows aircraft to follow precise three-dimensional curved flight paths through difficult terrain using a combination of onboard navigation technology and the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network. It allows aircraft to fly safer flight paths, provides more reliable landings, and eliminates reliance on ground-based navigation aids. This enables pilots to navigate aircraft more precisely and efficiently, while also being able to fly to lower altitudes in to airports where limited visibility upon approach is common due to weather and characteristics of the terrain.

 

"Friedman Memorial Airport is located deep in a valley with surrounding mountain peaks. As a result, instrument approaches used by pilots are often hampered by low cloud ceiling and extensive visibility requirements, resulting in a higher than average percentage of flight cancellations or diversions," said Cody Hargreaves, RNP engineer at Alaska Airlines who was integral in the approval and implementation of this approach. "The RNP approach Horizon uses will increase safety in this challenging environment and will drastically reduce the number of diversions."