The FAA Philosophy and Program of Instrument Approach and Landing System Development

An all-weather instrument landing system is urgently required by both civil and military users of the airspace. To this end the Government has pursued several developmental approaches which have contributed significantly to our knowledge and understanding of what steps must now be taken. This article describes much of what has been learned from previous efforts and describes the approach presently being taken by the Federal Aviation Agency to improve the present system, to achieve an interim landing system capability, and to provide a future system that will serve all users of the airspace.