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Two studies (Boeing 777 and 737 simulators) examined flight crews’ use of an Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) for taxiing in low-visibility conditions in lieu of infrastructure for Low-Visibility Operations/Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (LVO/SMGCS). Twenty-five flight crews completed 21 short taxi scenarios under combinations of the following variables and levels: Runway visual range (RVR; 300, 500, 1000 ft); Enhanced-Flight-Vision System in head-up display (on/off); airport infrastructure - 3 levels. Two scenarios dealt with detecting obstacles near the taxi path. In both studies, the use of EFVS resulted in fewer route deviations, the majority of which occurred at 300 feet RVR with edge lights and either a standard painted centerline (Level 1) or a painted centerline with LVO/SMGCS “enhancements” but without centerline lights (Level 2). Deviation from taxiway centerline was variable, but was consistent between display conditions (EFVS/no EFVS) (mean

At towered airports, air traffic controllers use an “out-the-window” view for situation awareness of the entire airport environment and for ensuring safe operation on and around airport runways. A controller's view of the runways can be limited by a number of factors, including weather conditions, obstructions, and night operations, making some aircraft movements difficult to detect especially in the absence of surface surveillance systems. In remote tower concepts, the same factors can impact the controller's airport view via cameras. While surface surveillance systems, when available, are designed to supplement the controller's visual surveillance, existing systems do not provide sufficient precision to identify the location of the aircraft nose or tail relative to runway entry and exit points, as designated by hold lines. These limitations can negatively impact the controller's situation awareness and can cause controllers to clear aircraft onto the runway when the runway is occupied, resulting in an operational error. The MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development (MITRE) conceived of, developed, and tested an airport runway hold line surveillance (HLS) capability that automatically monitors safety critical runway hold lines for aircraft crossings. The capability is envisioned to provide additional surveillance that improves safety but can also positively impact airport efficiency and runway capacity as controllers will no longer have to wait for aircrews to indicate that they are clear of the runway via radio before clearing the next operational use of the runway MITRE CAASD evaluated short-range surveillance sensor technologies and selected a commercially-available automotive radar sensor, then developed and tested a proof-of-concept prototype of the HLS concept. MITRE set up the HLS prototype at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for data collection and analyzed the system's performance. The results of the analysis, measured in terms of positional accuracy, indicate that the concept of detecting aircraft position relative to the hold line using this type of sensor and automation is feasible and could enhance safety in both remote tower and conventional tower environments.

This paper describes operational concepts, certification considerations, and initial user evaluations for using an avionics system for low visibility taxi operations. The ability to taxi to/from the runway safely and efficiently in low visibility conditions is becoming increasingly important as airplanes and aircrews become equipped and approved for low visibility landing and takeoff. Typically in the United States, any surface operations below 1200 ft. Runway Visual Range (RVR) generally encourage the airport authority to have an approved Low Visibility Operations / Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (LVO/SMGCS) plan which specifies certain markings, signs, lighting, and controls in the airport movement area. Operations below 600 ft. RVR, or 500 ft. RVR under U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Order 8000.94 enablement, require additional infrastructure in movement and non-movement areas and may also require Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE or ASDE-X) or a suitable substitute1 to allow the ground controllers to adequately monitor surface traffic. Surface operations below 300 ft. RVR are generally precluded (or need extra controls such as the use of a “follow-me” truck). The operational concepts described in this paper show how using on-board systems based on synthetic and enhanced vision systems may substitute for or augment an airport’s existing infrastructure. These on-board systems along with proper additional mitigations under the LVO/SMGCS concept of Protected Low Visibility Taxi Routes (PLOVTR) would enable an appropriately equipped aircraft and qualified crew to safely taxi in low visibility conditions.

In this study, we surveyed the operating status of the Runway for the Light Sport Aircraft(LSA) in Korea, and analyzed the Airfield Facilities Manual for the Air Leisure and the Standard Specification for Recreational Airpark Design. Based on the information, we presented the displacement of the threshold concept, to ensure the Runway Length and the Runway Safety Area, and operation of LSA in Korea.

Synthetic Vision (SV) and Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (EFVS) may serve as game-changing technologies to meet the challenges of the Next Generation Air Transportation System and the envisioned Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO) concept - that is, the ability to achieve the safety and operational tempos of current-day Visual Flight Rules operations irrespective of the weather and visibility conditions. One significant obstacle lies in the definition of required equipage on the aircraft and on the airport to enable the EVO concept objective. A motion-base simulator experiment was conducted to evaluate the operational feasibility and pilot workload of conducting departures and approaches on runways without centerline lighting in visibility as low as 300 feet runway visual range (RVR) by use of onboard vision system technologies on a Head-Up Display (HUD) without need or reliance on natural vision. Twelve crews evaluated two methods of combining dual sensor (millimeter wave radar and forward looking infrared) EFVS imagery on pilot-flying and pilot-monitoring HUDs. In addition, the impact of adding SV to the dual sensor EFVS imagery on crew flight performance and workload was assessed. Using EFVS concepts during 300 RVR terminal operations on runways without centerline lighting appears feasible as all EFVS concepts had equivalent (or better) departure performance and landing rollout performance, without any workload penalty, than those flown with a conventional HUD to runways having centerline lighting. Adding SV imagery to EFVS concepts provided situation awareness improvements but no discernible improvements in flight path maintenance.

“Welcome everyone to the launch of the World Women’s League of Basketball and its inaugural 10–10 tournament.” A deep male voice boomed into the darkened stadium. Strobe lights slowly swept across the space, packed with celebrities, politicians, fashionistas and media, coming to a stop illuminating a raised platform that extended most of the length of the basketball court.

Research, development, test, and evaluation of flight deck interface technologies is being conducted by NASA to proactively identify, develop, and mature tools, methods, and technologies for improving overall aircraft safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Under the Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies (VSST) project in the Aviation Safety Program, one specific area of research is the use of small Head-Worn Displays (HWDs) as an equivalent display to a Head-Up Display (HUD). Title 14 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 91.175 describes a possible operational credit which can be obtained with airplane equipage of a HUD or an "equivalent" display combined with Enhanced Vision (EV). If successful, a HWD may provide the same safety and operational benefits as current HUD-equipped aircraft but for significantly more aircraft in which HUD installation is neither practical nor possible. A simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate if the HWD, coupled with a head-tracker, can provide an equivalent display to a HUD. Comparative testing was performed in the Research Flight Deck (RFD) Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) full mission, motion-based simulator at NASA Langley. Twelve airline crews conducted approach and landing, taxi, and departure operations during low visibility operations (1000' Runway Visual Range (RVR), 300' RVR) at Memphis International Airport (Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifier: KMEM). The results showed that there were no statistical differences in the crews performance in terms of touchdown and takeoff. Further, there were no statistical differences between the HUD and HWD in pilots' responses to questionnaires.

Current Federal Aviation Administration Category I Instrument Landing System approach minima are a 200-foot above ground level Decision Height and 2,400-foot Runway Visual Range. The pilot may not commence an approach if the reported conditions are below these minimums and may only continue an approach below the decision height if the runway environment is in sight. This presentation will show that technology exists today to allow a pilot to continue his approach below published decision height to touchdown without ever actually `seeing' the runway environment outside of his cockpit. Onboard the aircraft, Global Positioning System enhanced by Wide Area Augmentation System typically provides instantaneous positional accuracy of less than one meter horizontally and 1.3 meters vertically. With this metric even the smallest aircraft could determine its location in X, Y, and Z to well within a fraction of its own footprint. Using high-precision GPS surveying equipment to perform a real-time kinematic survey, airport runway locations can be determined with centimeter level accuracy, making it conceivable to land an aircraft on a specific point on the runway to a very high degree of accuracy. Instrument flight with no outside visual cues imparts high levels of stress on the pilot. Landing an aircraft in zero-zero conditions would add significantly more stress. Synthetic Vision Systems that offer the pilot a high-fidelity representation of the outside world would lessen or preclude this stress. Many major universities, government agencies, and aerospace corporations are already at work to provide these type systems. SVS will most likely be initially designed for commercial, military, and business-class aircraft, and will cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. This valuable and life-saving technology will not be affordable to most general aviation pilots. This paper proposes a reduced-cost SVS system for general aviation, based on a Microsoft WindowsTM-based tablet computer. This presentation will document the testing of this system under Visual Flight Rules conditions in order to quantify the achievable accuracy and characterize feasibility of the concept.

The rapid increase in aviation industry requires parallel effective plans, programs and designs of systems and facilities nationwide to fulfill the increasing needs for safe air transportation. Aircraft landing remains a problem for a long time all over the world. Systems that aircraft rely on in landing are unreliable to perform a precise guidance due to many limitations such as inaccuracy, unreliability and dependency. In low visibility conditions, aircrafts are diverted to another airport. However, low visibility can also affect all airports in the vicinity, forcing aircrafts to land in low visibility conditions depending on Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). Aircraft approach and landing are the most hazardous portions of flight; accidents records indicated that approximately 50 percent of the accidents occur during these portions. Aircraft landing Category IIIC is not yet in operation anywhere in the world. It requires landing with no visibility or runway visual range. Currently, Global Positioning System (GPS) is the main navigation system used all over the world for aircraft navigation, approach and landing. However, GPS accuracy is not sufficient to perform a perfect landing due to the possibility of aircraft to be drifted out of the runway. The accuracy of GPS could be improved to 3 meter by receiving correction messages. Improved accuracy has not been able to meet International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for aircraft precision landing. In this study, aircraft landing systems characteristics, performances and accuracies have been studied and compared for the purpose of assessing limitations and drawbacks. An aircraft landing system with improved performance is proposed to meet ICAO standards for all-weather aircraft landing and to provide accurate guidance for approaching and landing aircrafts.

Conducting gate to gate operations during reduced visibility conditions is a major impediment to scheduled and unscheduled flight operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). Takeoff and landing minima are predicated on aircraft equipage and airport visibility (e.g., at some major airports, operations are terminated when visibility is below 700 ft runway visual range (RVR). Although some aircraft can land with zero-zero visibility, there are no ground or flight deck systems that allow them to taxi under low visibility conditions. A map display system designed to support low visibility taxi was evaluated by 12 B-747 flight crews in NASA's Crew Vehicle System Research Facility (CVSRF). Three taxi-map conditions were compared: paper map only, basic moving map, and advanced moving map. Crews landed and taxied along 24 different taxi routes under three visibility conditions: unlimited visibility, 700 ft RVR, and 300 ft RVR. Taxi time, errors and workload were collected for each taxi operation. Video tape recordings captured crew interactions and head-up and head-down times. Taxi times and errors were significantly better for crews with electronic maps than for crews with a paper map. Although crews with the advanced map experienced significantly more head-down time, the head down interval was significantly less than with the paper map and crew workload was significantly less. During the post-flight design review, pilots identified improvements in procedures and formatting that might enhance performance. They developed a procedure for safely switching from the NAV display to the map; and in general their comments were very favorable.

The orientation of Airport runway requires information on wind speed, wind direction, and wind speed intensity and duration. On the other hand, the runway location design requires information on the latitude and longitude of the site, temperature variation at the site throughout 20 years period, and the altitude of the airport site, so that the x and y coordinates could be corrected. The design of runway requires information on the expected traffic volume, type of aircraft intending to use it, and the class of the airport as per the ICAO specifications. In this work, a computer program has been developed, with data base constructed inside, such data regarding the wind and temperature and the traffic data as explained above was fed to the data base. The latitude, longitude, and altitude of each of the eighteen provinces in Iraq were also fed to the system. A methodology for drawing the wind rose diagram and the conditions for selecting the best runway orientation through optimization process has been included in the data base. The required calculation procedures for basic runway length and the corrections usually adopted for variation of temperature and altitude, landing and takeoff situations were also fed to the data base in the system. An input sheet was designed through visual basic environment so that if an airport is required anywhere in Iraq, the system will ask for the basic data of latitude and longitude and will suggest the best orientation of the runway using the optimization technique. After suggesting the orientation, another input sheet will ask about the airport class required, the type of air craft, and the traffic volume and modes of takeoff and landing, and then the system will suggest the basic runway length required, and the required corrections to be considered for the environmental conditions. In order to check the validation of the software, Data of selected existing airports in Iraq were obtained and fed to the software so that a comparison of its output with the existing condition could be obtained. It was felt that such program will help in the management of airport design, and provide instant information regarding the runway orientation, location, and design.

Low visibility is a major limiting factor on aircraft operations. Although there are several definitions of low visibility, in this paper it is defined as values less than a runway visual range (RVR) of 2400 feet. These conditions only occur a small percentage of the time, but they can have a major impact on the National Airspace System (NAS). The impact of reduced arrival rates as a result of low visibility operations at a major hub airport impacts a large geographic area. Departure airports, enroute airspace, diversion airports and adjacent smaller airports can all be significantly impacted from the reduction of capacity at the primary destination. The costs associated with the resultant delays, cancellations and diversions are substantial. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in an effort to reduce these impacts and harmonize with Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), has undertaken the task of updating the requirements for low visibility operations. This activity focuses on utilizing advanced flight deck technologies in lieu of ground based lighting and navigation components. Specific advanced flight deck technologies such as head-up displays (HUD), flight directors, auto-land systems, and enhanced flight vision systems for use in low visibility approach and landing in civil operations are being researched by the FAA and The MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD). Benefits are enabled for operators by allowing certain Category I instrument approaches to be flown with suitable advanced flight technology in lower visibility conditions and to operate to lower decision heights. This paper reports on the extent of benefits found through analysis of weather conditions, equipage rates, demand for access, and the importance of flight schedule integrity. This paper also discusses related technologies and research that can be utilized for low visibility operations and the key considerations important to utilizing these systems for the approach and landing phases of flight.

Researchers at Stanford University have developed and flight tested a runway incursion alerting system for aircraft on final approach. The system utilizes synthetic vision and ADS-B. The objectives of the flight test were to conduct a proof of concept and to compare the reaction times to incursion between pilots looking out the window and pilots looking at the display. In April 2001 we flew 98 approaches (incursions occurred on 72 approaches) into Moffett Federal Airfield. A specially equipped Ford Winstar Van generated the incursions while a Cessna Caravan flew approaches. Pilots looking out the window tended to see incursions at the runway threshold before the pilot using the display. The reaction time of the out the window pilot was a function of visibility conditions and the location of the incursion along the runway. The reaction time of the pilot looking at the synthetic vision display was insensitive to these factors.

The aviation industry has long sought a means of conducting all weather operations. Presently, airport lighting systems provide the only means for aiding the pilot's transition from instrument to visual acquisition of the runway environment prior to landing the aircraft. The ability for a pilot to see through fog (cloud ceiling and visibility) define the limitations for conducting operations in instrument meteorological conditions. CAT I approaches are authorized down to a runway visual range (RVR) of 2,400 feet, while CAT IIIa approaches are authorized to an RVR of 700 ft. Enhanced vision technologies are being investigated to improve the ability of the pilot to acquire the visual cues (predominantly airport lighting systems) to the runway environment. If enhanced vision enabled the pilot to see 3.5 times farther than the unaided eye, CAT I operations could be conducted under CAT IIIa conditions. This paper examines the relative theoretical and experimental performance of several enhanced vision technologies. This performance analysis compares the runway light detection capability of various infrared sensors with the eye during the dynamics of an aircraft approach and landing. This analysis further compares the IR performance with FogEye, a UV sensor, and a Laser Visual Approach system.

Runway occupancy time (ROT) data are essential to effectively monitor current airport operating efficiencies and to plan for the introduction of new aircraft surface movement guidance and control systems. This study was commissioned to provide a large and useful set of current ROT data for a major airport that could be used to support analyses aimed at improving the efficiency and safety of surface operations. This study was conducted at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport using the NASA Dynamic Runway Occupancy Measurement System (DROMS). Analyses were conducted to determine the factors that determine ROT such as aircraft weight, velocity, air carrier, and meteorological conditions.

A flight demonstration was conducted in August 1997 at the Hartsfield Atlanta (ATL) International Airport as part of low visibility landing and surface operations (LVLASO) research activities. This research was aimed at investigating technology to improve the safety and efficiency of aircraft movements on the surface during the operational phases of roll-out, turnoff, and taxi in any weather condition down to a runway visual range of 300 feet. The system tested at ATL was composed of airborne and ground-based components that were integrated to provide both the flight crew and controllers with supplemental information to enable safe, expedient surface operations. Experimental displays were installed on a Boeing 757-200 research aircraft in both head-up and head-down formats. On the ground, an integrated system maintained surveillance of the airport surface and a controller interface provided routing and control instructions. While at ATL, the research aircraft performed a series of flight and taxi operations to show the validity of the operational concept at a major airport facility, to validate simulation findings, and to assess each of the individual technologies' performance in an airport environment. The concept was demonstrated to over 100 visitors from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation community. This paper gives an overview of the LVLASO system and ATL test activities.

An A-SMGCS architecture and operational concept is presented that has been designed to prevent runway incursions while also improving operational capability. Results of a full-mission simulation using 18 airline pilots and six air traffic controllers are presented along with a description of flight testing to be performed at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. During the simulation, pilot test subjects executed multiple approaches followed by taxi to the gate in visibilities down to 150' using a synthetic vision display system. This system consists of a head-up display providing tactical guidance and a head-down moving map with position, traffic, and ATC instructions depicted to improve situational awareness in the flight deck. Runway incursion warnings were also generated in the flight deck based on surface traffic positions. Simulation scenarios modeled peak traffic conditions and included typical runway incursion events during both landing and takeoff roll. Results are presented as a function of visibility.

This article deals with the exploration of GA aerodromes around the world that meet the defined input conditions of maximal 1,500 m long runway and the existence of straight-in instrument approach. These aerodromes are analysed from different perspectives of runway equipment with respect to the various types of published approach.

Current research to achieve a technically and socially acceptable short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft system to help alleviate present air transportation congestion is outlined considering both flight and runway elements. The aerodynamic jet-flap propulsive-lift concept is briefly reviewed with proposed turbofan powered-lift aircraft. Short, single direction, and possibly elevated runways are considered for use in high-land-cost urban areas. Aircraft capability is being developed to enable operations under high crosswind conditions, possibly through the use of crosswind landing gears or crosswind-reducing fences erected along the sides of the runway. Techniques are being developed to insure smooth wind flow over elevated STOL ports, such as on the roofs of buildings; and emergency arresting systems are under study to contain the aircraft on the runway. Heating and grooving of the runway has been explored analytically as a method of keeping the required runway length short by guaranteeing runway friction even under ice and snow conditions.

Presented at Jet-Age Airport Conference, May 15-17, 1957. Topic covers Approach and Runway Lighting for Jet Age Aircraft.

Presented at the Jet-Age Airport Conference, May 15-17, 1957. Topic covers Statistical Approach to Runway Length.