Company "First And Only Vendor" Able To Make That Claim
Captain Robert Holleran, Jeppesen chief technical pilot, has
successfully completed the flight validation training course per
FAA notice 8260.66 [Flight Validation of Satellite-Based
Performance Based Navigation (PBN) and Special Wide Area
Augmentation System (WAAS) Instrument Flight Procedures (IFP)].
This makes Captain Holleran one of only four individuals who have
received this authorization, and makes Jeppesen the first and only
third-party vendor authorized to flight check PBN procedures.
Required Navigation Performance (RNP) falls under the overall
umbrella of PBN.
Jeppesen provides a complete Performance Based Navigation
program, that includes Federal Aviation Administration qualified
AC90-101 consultants, RNP and RNAV flight procedure design,
analysis of fleet missions and route structure to optimize RNP
implementation strategy and simulator evaluation. Jeppesen works
closely with its parent company, Boeing, on a number of PBN
programs.
"We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Captain
Holleran’s caliber on board the Jeppesen team," said Thomas
Wede, senior vice president and general manager, Aviation. "His
real-world experience and technical knowledge of performance based
navigation is a great asset to our customers as these types of
procedures become more and more common in the world’s
airspace systems."
Through the use of modern avionics and GPS, RNP flight
procedures provide operators a highly effective tool for enabling
safe and efficient operations in congested airspace, challenging
terrain, and adverse weather conditions.
RNP allows aircraft to navigate within very accurate corridors
which reduces airport noise footprints, minimizes weather
diversions and enables shorter, more efficient routes in and out of
airports, thus reducing fuel burn and emissions. RNP procedures are
also the foundation for continuous descent arrivals, a technique
for further reducing fuel burn and noise during descent into an
airport terminal area by using idle, or very low power settings
from cruise altitude to the airport environment.
Holleran is a 20-plus year veteran of the commercial aviation
industry and has over 13,000 flight hours with a wide variety of
flying experience, including general aviation, regional turboprops
and jets. He has commanded over 20 aircraft types and holds type
ratings on several Boeing and Airbus aircraft. In addition to
Captain Holleran’s extensive line pilot experience, he has
held management positions at United Airlines and was part of the
leadership team that implemented the first set of RNAV procedures
in the United States.