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Thread: MLS at EGLL
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Old 30th Oct 2002, 13:55
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FWA NATCA
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
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Lost,

I'm shocked that anyone has an MLS system, here in the US they abandoned the MLS project back in the late 80's, in fact only two airports in the US had an MLS for test purposes (Antrim County Airport in Northern Michigan was one)

Basically the MLS allows you to intercept the localizer at greater angles or to fly a segmented approach, around obsticals (tall buildings, antenna farms, etc). The MLS transmitter was designed as a single unit versus the ILS where you had a seperate glide slope antenna and a seperate localizer antenna.

In theory the MLS was a good design that allowed greater flexibility, but the high cost of installation for the aviation community and GPS/RNAV derailed MLS. Back when I did a feasibility study for the airport that I worked at, the cheapest unit that a GA pilot could purchase for their acft was $6K (six thousand US dollars) well above the cost of an ILS, GPS, or RNAV unit.

Mike
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