Area Navigation

Area Navigation (RNAV) permits aircraft to fly on any desired flight path within the coverage of referenced navigation aids or within the limits of self-contained system capability, rather than being restricted to flying directly to/from ground-based navaids.

RNAV uses inputs from multiple sensors (GPS, DME/DME, VOR/DME, INS) to compute position and guide the aircraft along programmed routes defined by waypoints.

• Enables more direct routes, saving fuel and time
• RNAV approaches (e.g., RNAV GPS, RNP) provide precision-like guidance without ground-based ILS
• PBN (Performance-Based Navigation) builds on RNAV with specific accuracy requirements
• Nearly all modern commercial aircraft are RNAV-capable