First LPV Approach Goes Live at Charles de Gaulle Airport

The first European LPV-200 IFR approach was implemented at Charles de Gaulle Airport’s Runway 26L on Tuesday, following publication of the procedure on April 28. The new approach mirrors Cat I ILS approach minimums, including a 200-foot decision height, and it is supported by the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (Egnos), Europe’s satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS). The approach was flown yesterday by pilots aboard a Dassault Falcon 2000XLS, an ATR 42-600 and an Airbus A350. 

Egnos LPV-200 became operational on September 29 last year, and French air navigation service provider DSNA developed the LPV-200 approach. The next airport to receive an LPV-200 procedure will be Austria’s Vienna International, and others in Europe will follow. 

“The new LPV-200 approach procedures now implemented at Paris-CDG aim to demonstrate that the SBAS technology, Egnos in Europe, is a Category I performance approach that is reliable,” said DSNA CEO Maurice Georges. “We are convinced that SBAS is a fundamental technology to modernize our navigation infrastructure. Following this first implementation, LPV-200 approach procedures will be progressively deployed over our IFR runway-ends network.”

“The accuracy and stability of the LPV guidance is really amazing, much better than with ILS. Lowering the LPV minimums down to 200 feet in Europe is a great improvement enabled by Egnos and is valuable for business aviation operations,” said Dassault test pilot Jean-Louis Dumas.