Horizon Air has equipped all of its 48 Bombardier Q400s with Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) capabilities using dual Universal Avionics’ UNS-1Ew Flight Management Systems (FMS), the companies said Thursday. All aircraft are now WAAS, Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 0.3 Authorization Required (AR) and Cat III (two engine and single engine)-capable.
“The completion of the final WAAS upgrade for the Q400 fleet marks an important milestone for our friends at Horizon,” said Scott Campbell, Universal Avionics’ director of airline and military sales. “We’re extremely proud to be part of this innovative and cutting-edge team,” he added.
“Transitioning from the UNS-1E to the UNS-1Ew FMS has been painless,” said Perry Solmonson, director of flight standards and training at Horizon Air. “Our flight crews operationally understand the UNS-1E and the UNS-1Ew is a logical transition. The FMS works so well, our operating procedures advise pilots to fly FMS-based approaches, RNP/LPV, at all airports where minimums allow the flight to be completed. It is our goal that Air Traffic Control associates Horizon Air flights with RNP and LPV approaches. We have been flying RNP 0.3 AR approaches for over a year now and to date, our Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) program has recorded no unstable approaches on RNP approach procedures, both in IMC and VMC,” he continued.
To date, more than 2,500 Universal Avionics WAAS/SBAS-FMS units have been installed, the company said.