Development of Low Visibility Procedures (LVP)

Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) are usually defined as a set of procedures established at an aerodrome in support of CAT II/III approaches and landings and of take-offs with RVR below 550 m. These enable airlines to operate aerodromes in poor weather conditions and with lower minima as with CAT I operations.

Therefore, LVPs are very beneficial to increase the serviceability of the manoeuvring area and increase the attractivity of an aerodrome to its users.

Nevertheless, the development and implementation of LVP is often a challenge to aerodrome operators as it requires the fulfilment of numerous additional criteria related to the aerodrome infrastructure and equipment as well as specific documented procedures.
For instance, an aerodrome would require among other things: a compliant runway environment (physical characteristics), a secondary power unit for more resilience, adapted surveillance and maintenance of visual aids to ensure lights (e.g. approach lights, stop bars, etc.) are functioning and operational, the utilisation of standard taxi routes and restriction of aircraft movements to limit the risk of conflicts, safeguarding area for ensuring ILS signal integrity (incl. deployment of CAT II/III holding positions), a surveillance display system (SMR or A-SMGCS), specific staff training (ATC, drivers), etc.

Also, another main challenge while developing LVPs is the definition of interfaces between the stakeholders, the allocation of responsibility and the documentation of the procedures to ensure that processes remains lean and efficient – for each LVP phases i.e. Preparation, Operations, Termination.

airsight supported in the last few years several airports (Warsaw, Dubai, Luxembourg, etc.) in their implementation or improvement of LVP and/or All Weather Operations. airsight has years of experience in this field, and also has consolidated tools and checklists to make such projects cost-efficient. Please feel free to contact us!