Hughes Aerospace Corporation

Hughes Aerospace Corporation is a company in The Woodlands, Texas. It designs, validates and maintains instrument flight procedures for airplanes and helicopters. The company describes itself as an FAA authorized and ICAO endorsed air navigation services provider. It says it is veteran owned and has more than 20 years of experience.

Its instrument flight procedure work includes performance based navigation and conventional procedures. The site says the company is certified to design procedures under both PANS OPS and TERPS criteria. Its procedure types include WAAS LPV approaches, RNP AR, RNAV visual approaches, SID and STAR development, and ILS, VOR, DME and NDB procedures.

The company provides instrument flight rules certification for runways and airports, and for heliports and vertiports. It also performs heliport and airport surveys, obstacle determination and analysis, and helicopter instrument procedures for offshore, emergency medical and public safety operations.

Hughes flies flight inspection and aerial survey work with its own aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems. Flight inspection and validation includes airfield lighting and VGSI and PAPI commissioning. The company says its validation services cover simulator, flight and obstacle validation.

In July 2025 Garmin and Hughes launched Guided Visual Approaches. The service gives pilots using Garmin WAAS systems access to 31 visual procedures with autopilot coupled lateral and vertical guidance. The company says the service is available for purchase.

The company says it is the only source of certified GBAS precision landing systems in the world, through its partnership with Honeywell. It holds a third party authorization from the FAA and has ICAO endorsement as an air navigation services provider. It has also received licenses for procedure design in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the Philippines.

Hughes is affiliated with the Helicopter Association International, the ICAO PBN Go Team, the International Helicopter Safety Team and the Royal Aeronautical Society Flight Test Committee. It also offers the HUGHES app for navigation and weather in flight.

Services

• Instrument flight procedure design
• Instrument flight procedure validation and maintenance
• IFR certification for runways and airports
• IFR certification for heliports and vertiports
• Obstacle determination and analysis
• Flight inspection and validation
• Guided visual approaches
• Performance based navigation
• GBAS precision landing systems
• ICAO aligned procedure services