Airspace Safety Assessment for Implementation of the Japanese Domestic Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum

The Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM), which is the reduced minimum from 2,000 ft to 1,000 ft at flight levels (FL) between 290 and FL410 inclusive, was implemented in 30 September 2005 within the Japanese domestic airspace. Prior to the implementation, safety assessment for the airspace in assumed RVSM environments was carried out. Some model parameter values of collision risk model were estimated using flight plan (progress) data and radar data. An estimate of vertical collision risk including operational risk was calculated using these together with given parameter values. The results obtained from this analysis are as follows. (1) Contribution of the vertical collision risk for the crossing routes is about 9 percents of the total technical risk. (2) The estimate of the collision risk is 4.1x10-9 [fatal accidents / flight hour] and the value is smaller than a maximum allowable level of collision risk, i.e. 5x10-9 [fatal accidents / flight hour], called the Target Level of Safety.