A new satellite navigation system is being installed at the Morden Airport with a launch date of December 7th.

The Morden Flying Club had approached City council a number of years ago with this idea and it's now coming to fruition.

Flying Club Member and avid flyer Chris Unrau said larger airports will often have a radio system on the ground called an Instrument Landing System which is used to guide the plane down through the clouds to the airport.

When experiencing a storm the area could become inaccessible by air. However, with the installation of this system, planes can still land.

It can be really crucial for med-evacs, JetPro Owner Ed McDonald said. JetPro is a company which has installed these systems across Canada.

"It would take some pretty terrible weather for the airport not to be usable," said McDonald.

Unrau noted during a stormy/blustery day the area may not be reachable via air, which is where you can use the waypoints to find the runway. He said you can enter the waypoints and fly to them manually, but a hand's free option could be available in the newer style planes. He added the hands-free approach will bring you all the way to about 200 feet off the ground, which is referred to as decision altitude, where the pilot needs to make up their mind if they're going to land or not.

"The big case for this is public safety," said Unrau.

Another driver for having this type of system in place is the fact that it can help attract larger companies/organizations to the area. This is because these companies aren't going to locate a business where they can't transport their executives in and out on private jets.

"Right now there is just no way that would happen in our region," said Unrau. "With GPS approach, all of a sudden you open up your community to companies that are going to consider bringing their corporate aircraft in and out of the region and on their radar as to where they could locate some people."

According to Unrau most GPS units installed in planes these days are compatible with the Instrument Approach Procedure (IAP). Pilots wishing to use this system after it's launched are required to be certified.

"Right now aviation is just an enormous bright spot in the world of economy," Unrau said.

The City of Morden will be covering the costs for this new system. The initial start-up costs will be around $30,000 with another roughly $3,000 a year in annual fees.