21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-5.11.1

ESTIMATION OF CIVIL AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE AND OPERATING PRACTICES FROM RADAR DATA

Caves R. E., Jenkinson L. R., Rhodes D.P., Ollerhead J. B.*
Loughborough University, United Kingdom; *National Air Traffic Services Ltd, United Kingdom

Keywords: civil aircraft, performance, operating practices, radar data

This paper responds to a need for an airport noise model to be driven by the recorded aircraft flight profiles and the resulting engine thrust settings. A method has been developed which transforms measured flight patterns to aircraft performance (e.g. speed and thrust) and operating procedures (e.g. flap settings or power changes). The method has been verified by comparison with flight data recording values obtained from aircraft at London Heathrow. Throughout the study reference was made to the flight profile modelling procedures recommended by SAE (ref. 1), ECAC (ref. 2) and ICAO (ref. 3). As the SAE procedure is the predecessor of the other methods it has been used in the validation process. The standardised methods are employed in existing noise models in conjunction with aircraft manufacturers' databases. The most widely available is the FAA database which is supplied with the Integrated Noise Model (INM). The new procedure allows actual profiles from routinely gathered radar data to be used directly. Using this 'method reflects aircraft performance and operating practices more accurately than earlier methods which make several assumptions. The use of actual flight path allows consideration of non-reference flight conditions, for example the use of derated take-off thrust and variation in the height at which thrust is cut-back to climb-setting.

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