‘Historic milestone’: India clears first satellite-guided PinS helicopter landing system at Undavalli Heliport

India’s aviation sector has reached a major milestone, approving its first-ever Private Point-in-Space (PinS) Instrument Approach Procedure for helicopter operations at Undavalli Heliport. The move has marked a significant step towards modernising the country’s helicopter navigation system. Rather than traditional ground-based instrument landing systems, PinS procedures rely on satellite-based navigation to enable helicopters to make accurate and safe instrument approaches to heliports that lack conventional instrument landing infrastructure.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the PinS procedure was developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and received regulatory approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Hailing the accomplishment, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who has been closely spearheading and monitoring the introduction of PinS, said, “The introduction of India's first PinS Instrument Approach Procedure marks the beginning of a new era in helicopter operations by significantly enhancing flight safety, operational efficiency and all-weather accessibility.”

He added, “I sincerely appreciate the coordinated efforts of all concerned agencies, including the Airports Authority of India, DGCA and the state government of Andhra Pradesh in achieving this historic milestone. Our foremost priority is the adoption of modern technologies to make helicopter operations more reliable and more accessible across the country. We also recently concluded the first phase of this year's Char Dham helicopter operations successfully without any incident, supported by upgraded technological infrastructure. Our commitment is to build a technology-driven and globally benchmarked helicopter ecosystem in India.”

“Under the technology-driven leadership of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, India's aviation sector is witnessing rapid technological advancement. Just last week, we successfully demonstrated the country's first indigenous GAGAN-based precision approach by a commercial aircraft. The introduction of the country's first PinS Instrument Approach Procedure is another major milestone in this journey. It reinforces the Government's vision of modernising aviation infrastructure through Performance-Based Navigation (PBN), expanding the use of indigenous satellite-based navigation technologies and aligning India's aviation ecosystem with global best practices,” the minister said.

The approval is expected to accelerate the adoption of similar PinS procedures at heliports across India, strengthening a wide range of helicopter services, including emergency medical transport, disaster response, tourism, offshore operations, pilgrimage travel, corporate aviation and regional connectivity. By enabling safer Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations to remote and strategically important destinations, the technology is expected to enhance operational reliability and minimise disruptions caused by adverse weather.

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