Definition
An instrument approach procedure built entirely around area navigation using GPS as the primary navigation source, designed independently of any ground-based navigation aid. The procedure is published on its own approach chart titled 'RNAV (GPS) RWY XX' and does not overlay or share course guidance with a VOR, NDB, ILS, or localizer procedure to the same runway.
Plain English
An approach to a runway that is flown using GPS only, with its own dedicated chart. It is not a GPS version of an existing ground-based approach -- it is a procedure that exists on its own.
Context Anchor
Seen on instrument approach charts titled “RNAV (GPS) RWY...” and when loading an approach from the aircraft’s approved navigation database.
Derivation
Stand-alone' simply means it stands by itself -- not built on top of, or dependent on, another approach. Early GPS approaches were often 'overlays' of existing VOR or NDB procedures; stand-alone procedures were designed from scratch for GPS use, so the name distinguishes them from those overlays.
Why Pilots Care
It provides reliable instrument approach capability to thousands of runways that lack traditional ground-based navigation facilities, improving access and safety in low-visibility conditions.
Intuition Check
“Stand-alone” does not mean casual, improvised, or usable with any GPS. Here it means the approach is its own published procedure and is not just a GPS version of another approach.
Example Sentence 1
The destination had no VOR or ILS, so we briefed the stand-alone RNAV (GPS) approach to runway 27 as our only instrument option.
Example Sentence 2
Many nontowered airports now publish stand-alone RNAV (GPS) approaches that pilots can fly using only GPS guidance.