A WORLD leader in the calibration of aircraft navigation and safety equipment has won a major contract with one of Britain's biggest airports.

Flight Precision has agreed a five-year deal at Manchester Airport to make sure all equipment needed to guide aircraft to and from runways is regularly checked and calibrated to the highest standards.

The company, based at Teesside International Airport, uses a laser tracker which fires distance measuring pulses from the ground to calibration aircraft.

Data from the satellite-based Global Positioning System and other electronics in the aircraft are then integrated by the on-board calibration computer.

The accuracy of the airport's "blind landing" instrument landing systems can be checked to within 15cm to ensure that passenger aircraft land in safety.

The contract comes as Flight Precision marks ten years during which it has established itself around the world as a leader in the calibration of navigation aids for both civil and military airports.

The company was formed as a joint UK-German venture by FR Aviation, which provides aircraft for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and Aerodata, which designs and manufactures technological systems for aircraft.

It has a client list which includes Britain's National Air Traffic Service, all of the country's regional airports and all MoD airfields in the UK and abroad.