EGNOS: En Afrique atterrisage en toute sÈcuritÈ

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Safer Air Traffic in Developing Countries
10:00:40
Dakar Airport, Senegal ? an ATR 42 is on the approach. The plane is close to the ground but the landing gear has not been lowered. It overflies the runway and climbs back into the sky.
But this was no near accident. It was a manÏuvre to test new landing procedures that rely on guidance from signals sent from spaceÉ
These trial flights are to demonstrate the new possibilities offered by EGNOS, Europe's first satellite navigation service. EGNOS operates by correcting and improving the data supplied by GPS.
An EGNOS monitoring station ? known as a RIMS ? has been set up for this purpose in the Dakar area.
The station consists of an aerial that picks up GPS signals and is linked to a computer.
Here, in this region of West Africa, it has been possible for the first time to measure the true scale of the results EGNOS can achieve.
The specially equipped plane has been carrying out flight trials for several days, increasing the number of approach ru