At bustling traffic hubs like O'Hare International, planes can spend an interminably long time waiting for their turn to land. And at airports like Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International, pilots must contend with tight flight paths to avoid crowded population centers and hills on their final approach. But thanks to a new hyper-accurate GPS-based tracking system, airliners will no longer have to contend with land-locked navigation beacons and overworked control towers.
The technology is known as Required Navigation Performance (RNP). Rather than the Eisenhower-era traffic management systems and land-based radio navigation beacons we've been using, RNP utilizes GPS satellite navigation to track planes with an accuracy of 32 feet and within 10 seconds of their arrival. It also demands that the planes fly along specific three-dimensional flight paths (as seen in the above GIF), resulting in a more efficient flight path for the plane, shorter flight times for travelers, reduced fuel costs for the airlines, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Everybody wins.