Flight tests pave the way to greening of aircraft operations
SGO has evaluated new operational concepts for integration in future flight management systems in order to minimise environmental effects and provide more sustainable and green operations to airliners. Among these, the Multi-criteria departure procedure (MCDP) and ECO STEP were modelled and tested in a laboratory. They exhibited significant savings in terms of fuel consumption and environmental pollutants. MCDPs are based on noise abatement departure procedures designed to provide noise reduction for surrounding airport areas and reduce fuel burn. This serves to minimise cash operation costs as well as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions during departure. ECO STEP is an optimised multistep procedure used mainly for long-range cruising. It computes an optimised cruise profile in order to minimise fuel consumption and/or flight time. The EU-funded ATAEGINA (Airline trials of environmental green flight management functions) project took MCDP and ECO STEP out of the lab and into real flight conditions. The two operational concepts were evaluated by analysing their compatibility with aircraft operations and conducting a safety assessment. MCDP flight simulations were successfully carried out, demonstrating the compatibility of the new functions introduced for the MCDP operation in non-automatic execution with current flight management functions. ECO STEP simulation tests were not carried out due to long delays. A real MCDP flight trial campaign was also carried out. Different assessments were conducted using data recorded during the MCDP flight trial campaign. Results show that it is feasible to carry out MCDP as a new operational concept in daily operations. In addition, the procedure could be fully accepted by flight crews, with some minor procedure modifications. However, due to the low number of MCDP flights, there is no conclusive evidence regarding the benefits it could provide in terms of noise, fuel and emission reductions. Lastly, researchers analysed MCDP integration/certification aspects. They presented different integration approaches and identified on-board equipment modifications and regulations for certification. Through real-life testing and validation, ATAEGINA fully supports Clean Sky’s SGO in its future steps towards reducing the environmental impact of aircraft operations.
Keywords
Systems for Green Operations, multi-criteria departure procedure, ECO STEP, ATAEGINA, flight management
