Development of specific IFR procedures is considered as key enabler for enhancing flight safety and service reliability of rotorcraft operations. This concerns medical transport which today is conducted most of the time in VFR even at night or (and) in adverse weather conditions and also operations at busy airports where, because of congestion problems, rotorcraft operations are discouraged and even rejected.In the frame of GIANT and OPTIMAL E.U. projects, Eurocopter successfully achieved flight trials of rotorcraft-specific steep IFR approaches using SBAS and GBAS as guidance means. All the procedures have been judged easy to fly, even those with the steepest final segments (9° slope). A key feature to enable such steep approaches is definitely the AFCS airspeed (IAS) hold mode. A low minimum approved IFR airspeed is also required as steep slopes must be flown at low groundspeed (50 Kt for 9° slope) to keep an acceptable descent rate in IMC. Flight data analysis shows that a very good navigation accuracy has been achieved, both in the horizontal and vertical plane.GIANT and OPTIMAL results are expected to contribute to the development of ICAO design criteria for rotorcraft-specific LPV approaches which are today on the agenda of the Helicopter Group of the Instrument Flight Procedures Panel (IFPP).
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