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[[interviewer] We're here today with Steve Fulton, Technical Fellow at GE Aviation,]
[to talk about GE's donation of advanced navigation procedures]
[to the Civil Aviation Administration in China]
[for relief efforts in the earthquake-stricken region around Yushu.]
[Steve, can you tell us a little bit about that region in China]
[and why those procedures will help.]
[[Fulton] This earthquake was in a region of western China called the Tibetan Plateau.]
[Tibet is a region that is quite large, and I think that's important for people to recognize,]
[that this area is four times, roughly, the size of Texas.]
[The average elevation across that plateau is about 15,000 feet.]
[So it's large, it's high altitude characterized by mountainous terrain,]
[The population is quite low, and the communities are some distances apart.]
[So aviation plays an important part to providing transportation services]
[and in this instance, relief efforts in that area.]
[[interviewer] How does Required Navigation Performance]
[help airplanes get into that region, Steve?]
[[Fulton] The technology that we're talking about here--]
[Required Navigation Performance--]
[is a completely new capability or technology ]
[that is in essence re-engineering the way airplanes are flying.]
[We're moving in this future of air traffic management ]
[away from ground-based navigation systems ]
[to aircraft-based navigation systems.]
[And central to this are computers that GE Aviation has demonstrated leadership]
[in developing and placing on aircraft like Boeing and Airbus aircraft.]
[These airplanes have an ability to navigate very precisely]
[and do that without any reference or need for signals from the ground.]
[[interviewer] Steve, can you explain, for those of us who are not as familiar]
[with this technology as you are, how it works and how it actually helps.]
[[Fulton] So the business of Naverus, the business unit that is part of GE Aviation,]
[is designing custom paths for airplanes to fly]
[that are very flexible, adaptive to the environment,]
[and provide a level of efficiency that wasn't available before.]
[It connects with the full capabilities of the airplane]
[and provides a performance that has multiple benefits.]
[We're putting these paths, guiding airplanes into airports ]
[and back out of airports, along the most efficient,]
[and you could even say the most intelligent, route that we'd want the airplane to fly,]
[It considers all the factors, obstacles,]
[[Ken Shapero - Marketing Communications - Leader for Naverus, part of GE Aviation]]
[[Captain Steve Fulton - Technical Fellow for Naverus, part of GE Aviation]]
[what the air space constraints are, what environmental constraints there might be,]
[and also where can we get the most efficient flight for the airplane?]
[The least possible distance between the takeoff and the landing]
[is ultimately the objective,]
[and the most efficient descent with the engines back at idle]
[as we leave cruise in a gliding fashion down to the runway.]
[[Shapero] So that's all very interesting, Steve.]
[What is it about the conventional navigation that we have today]
[that makes it not possible to do that?]
[[Fulton] There's a lot of problems with the existing technology today,]
[which is historically a network of ground-based navigation beacons,]
[and these are scattered around the ground,]
[and they're intended to provide the level of guidance that was necessary]
[for airplanes to navigate across the air space.]
[Being based on the ground and still being radio frequency type transmissions,]
[there are just natural limitations that we've moved beyond ]
[with this aircraft-based capability.]
[[Shapero] So with the paths that you design,]
[you could go around an obstacle or fly a curved path around something.]
[So regardless of the constraint or the objective,]
[we can define a very complex path.]
[It has lateral flexibility so we can maneuver, as you said, around an obstacle,]
[and also it has vertical flexibility so we can define a path for the airplane]
[that allows the airplane to descend from cruise to the ground]
[using the least amount of fuel possible and generating the lowest amount of noise.]
[In addition, there are plans, we understand, by the Chinese government]
[to introduce night operations, which would be completely impossible without this technology.]
[The confidence and the performance in those systems are such ]
[that we can reliably--and it's already been demonstrated in the case of Lhasa--]
[we can reliably transition from day only operations to day and night,]
[essentially all weather operations.]
[[Shapero] You mentioned that GE donated these paths to CAAC in China.]
[[Fulton] This technology is relatively new that we're talking about,]
[and it's just a few companies around the world.]
[I think it's really exciting to know that GE Aviation's business unit, Naverus,]
[is recognized around the world as the leading provider of this technology.]
[It takes an extensive effort to engineer these paths.]
[They look simple on the surface, but they're actually quite complex.]
[There's a lot of engineering and a lot of expertise required ]
[to get the paths coupled with the airplane systems and the operational procedures]
[to maximize the performance.]
[Ultimately, what comes out of this effort is an electronic format]
[that goes into the flight computers on board the airplane]
[and is read in the flight for defining and following the path.]
[I'm happy to say that, despite this cost and investment,]
[GE made all of this available for these relief efforts in Yushu.]
[I've spent a lot of time personally in that region,]
[and I have to say that it's a very satisfying feeling]
[to know that we're part of this effort to bring relief to that part of the world]
[during this time of need, during this relief activity that's under way.]
[[Shapero] That's truly an eye-opener, Steve,]
[and we appreciate your taking the time to talk with us today. Thank you very much.]
