Ottawa, Canada-based NAV Canada reached an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to extend the benefits of satellite-navigation technology to all aircraft operators that fly in Canadian airspace.

The agreement will expand the FAA’s Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) into Canada after the construction of four monitoring stations. The pact should improve Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation performance significantly for satellite-based approaches in Canada and in the northern part of the lower 48 contiguous states by late 2005.

Receivers on aircraft would be able to use GPS/WAAS signals to pinpoint lateral and vertical position to within 2 meters with high reliability. The technology would allow pilots to fly approaches with vertical guidance in cloud cover as low as 250 feet above the ground without any approach-system infrastructure at an airport. GPS approaches now in use do not provide such vertical guidance, and typical minimum altitudes are between 100 feet to 300 feet higher.

(John Morris, NAV Canada, 613/563-7032)