Project Aurora: the way to achieve fuel efficient landings
Environment friendly flights are becoming more and more usual. Airlines are making a big effort to ensure that their flights are cleaner and quieter, or as they like to call them, ‘greener’.
One of the last big efforts to farther contribute to these so-called environment friendly flights is project Aurora. Led by Airbus, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) and the Swedish CAA, Aurora has developed a new landing procedure that will allow airlines to cut down the fuel consumption rate, hence cutting back polluting emissions as well. This new procedure is referred to as aurora approach or green approach.
The first green approach took place in December 2007. The flight was part of a program in which all of SAS´s A330´s inbound to Arlanda airport between December 1st 2007 and January 6th 2008 were supposed to conduct aurora arrivals. The aircraft took off from New York’s Newark Liberty International airport and landed in Arlanda as intended, this is, performing a green approach, an aurora approach.
What are these aurora approaches anyways? Well, the truth is that they’re actually quite simple procedures, and they ensure airlines to save up a lot of fuel.
While performing an aurora approach, an aircraft performs a continuous and uninterrupted descent at idle power from cruising altitude to the runway. This explains why these descents are also called continuous descent approaches (CDA´s).
During the duration of a CDA, an aircraft is supposed to fly on it’s autopilot practically until it touches down. Once it does, the airplane taxies to it’s final position using one single engine. In fact, the airplane also taxies on one engine from the boarding gate to the runway when it’s going to take off.
Not only does this procedure allow airlines to save up fuel, it also helps to reduce noise and save up time. However, SAS knows that it will still take a little while to perform CDA´s on a large scale. Air traffic remains a problem, and since Arlanda´s ground flight management system is only now beginning to test this procedure, CDA´s must be limited to days with little air traffic. If SAS decides to conduct aurora approaches on a large scale, Arlanda´s air traffic management system will have to be updated.
Another European project, this one called SESAR, which stands for Single European Sky Initiative, is closely looking at Aurora’s green approaches to improve not only Arlanda´s, but also Europe’s air traffic management system
Project Aurora and the USA
After it’s successful trial period in Arlanda Airport, project Aurora will probably be put into good use in the US under a program called AIRE, a joint program between the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Commission. AIRE plans to expand the already established network of American airports that will be receiving aircraft conducting CDA´s. It looks like the next two airports to be included in this list will be Miami International and Atlanta International. If one keeps in mind the huge air traffic flow generated by these two airports, it will become pretty obvious that the US Federal Aviation Administration is taking project Aurora very seriously.
Forecast winds, nowcast winds and observed winds.
Another asset being tested by project Aurora is a ‘tool’ capable of giving very precise wind forecasts. This ‘tool’ (when use this word I do it in a metaphoric way), takes into consideration three different kinds of wind related information.
While in flight, an aircraft is continuously being fed with information regarding to the winds ahead of it. This information either comes from the nearest meteorological center or airport, or even from an airplane following the same flight route. This is what we call forecast winds. As for the nowcast winds and observed winds, they give live information regarding to the winds a given aircraft is actually flying through.
By taking in consideration these three kinds of wind forecasts, people at project Aurora are trying to develop a much more efficient and accurate way of knowing the winds an aircraft will run into whilst in flight. By doing so, the pilot and copilot will be able to set the most ideal cruising altitude so as to get the biggest amount of tail wind as possible, cutting down both the fuel consumption rate and the flight time.
To take advantage of this new ‘tool’ an aircraft would have to update it’s flight management system. Once it did, the airplane would be able to plot an extremely accurate and precise arrival routing, allowing the destination airport to know the exact landing time.
Several airlines (both European and American) have already taken into serious consideration conducting CDA´s on a regular basis. SAS has estimated that after more than 1300 green approaches it has saved up to 186 kg of fuel per flight, with a 315 kg reduction of CO2 emissions. Over in the USA, UPS has estimated that it would save up to almost 4 million litters of fuel in one year if it’s entire fleet conducted CDA´s. On the other hand, Delta Airlines has said that aurora approaches would allow her to save up to 500kg of fuel per landing. The benefits of this procedure are not only obvious, they’re also amazing, it wouldn’t surprise me if in a few years all airlines were conducting aurora approaches.
Tags: Airbus, Airbus A330, Airline Fuel Consumption, Airplane Air, Aurora Approach, Environment Friendly Flights, Flight Management Systems, Green Air Flights, Green Approach, New Your Liberty International Airport, project aurora, SAS Airbus A330, Scandinavian Airlines, SESAR Project, Single European Sky Initiative, Swedish CAA
Filed under: Aviation News
