Eurocontrol, the European organisation for the safety of air navigation, implemented the Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) programme on January 24. But how has the implementation of RVSM been received in Europe?

From my point of view, the situation was just as European business aviation operators /owners have come to expect when Europe and Eurocontrol set an implementation date for new systems/procedures to

further expand capacity in European airspace.

The US aircraft manufacturers are far behind any set schedules with STCs or equipment kits for their (older) aircraft being operated in Europe.

This has been the case with 8.33 spacing as well as now with RVSM. The 8.33 spacing implementation date was postponed that time for some months due to too many aircraft not fulfilling the requirements at the originally planned implementation date.

But this has not been the case with the RVSM implementation date since most of the newer aircraft have already been fitted with the required equipment.

But Bombardier (especially with its Learjet 55 series) and Cessna (for its earlier Citation series) did not have a certificated solution at the implementation date, 24 January 2002.

In the meantime there are still some operators throughout Europe who do not have their aircraft refitted, which limits their operational capability and results in a higher fuel consumption and therefore uneconomical performance.

The preparation for the implementation included a couple of other items than just having your aircraft refitted and certificated.

The Operations Manual, the Maintenance Management Exposition as well as the Minimum Equipment Lists had to be amended by RVSM chapters.

This is as usual with these kind of implementations a big workload for any executive/business aviation operator since only a few have dedicated departments solely taking care of documentation.

Clearly no documentation can be amended when nobody knows about the final equipment the aircraft will be equipped with, because the manufacturer of the aircraft/equipment is running late with the approval.

Flight planning scenarios also changed with the implementation of RVSM, whereby the so-called entry/exit points into/out of European RVSM airspace have to be put explicitly in the route item of the flight plan with the corresponding RVSM/non-RVSM flight levels. For people not doing this on a day to day basis further problems could arise.

And, to be honest, who has been working on these kind of things well in advance, despite knowing the implementation date for two years?

Oliver Hessel, managing director, Air OPS International GmbH,