At midnight of the 21^st of August, just as the LPV approach procedure at Exeter Airport became operational; the Beechcraft 76 GBXWA from Aviation South West (ASW) performed the first approach of this type ever operationally flown in the UK.

The aircraft started the approach to Runway 26 at 01:02 am local time, just two minutes after it became operational (00:00 GMT, 01:00 BST).

Richard Bristowe, Head of Training at ASW, had the privilege to become the first UK pilot to operationally fly an LPV and commented on the satisfactory flight right after landing:  “I think the overall memory was just how stable the system is.  We've seen that in the trial,  but at night the calmer air and clarity of vision demonstrated that flying to within one degree is perfectly possible.  It was especially interesting to see how the ILS glide path fluctuated slightly on box 2 but the LPV remained rock steady (my co-pilot thought the autopilot was still engaged!).  I now appreciate why Thomson – the regional airline operating at Exeter - have almost always flown the LNAV rather than the ILS”.