The Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (Canso) and its members last week published a best practices guide to speed the implementation of performance-based navigation (PBN), a tool ICAO calls its highest air navigation priority.

The new document provides guidance on terminal and approach PBN. Among other things, it details how a clear understanding of the navigation specifications for a given phase of flight can save valuable time in the initial development process. The guide also explains the necessary interaction between aircraft systems and procedure design that should reduce surprises during the simulation and implementation phase.

An important element of the PBN guide is an explanation of the performance metrics used to build a business case for PBN implementation focused around the key indicators of airspace and airport capacity, safety, efficiency and minimal environmental impact.