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Accurate modeling of airplane fuel consumption is necessary for air transportation policy-makers to properly adjudicate trades between competing environmental and economic demands. Existing public models used for computing terminal-area airplane fuel consumption have been shown to have substantial errors, potentially leading to erroneous policy and investment decisions. The method of modeling fuel consumption proposed in this paper was developed using data from a major airplane manufacturer. When compared with airline performance/operational data, this proposed method has been shown to accurately predict fuel consumption in the terminal area. The proposed method uses airplane performance data from publicly available environmental models supported by the Federal Aviation Administration and others. The proposed method has sufficient generality to protect the proprietary interests of the manufacturer, while still having adequate fidelity to analyze low-speed airplane operations in the terminal area. This improved methodology will enable more informed decisions by policy-makers seeking to account for the effects of fuel consumption and airplane emissions on plans for future airspace and airport designs. DOI: 10.2514/1.42025

The quantity and rate of fuel burned during aircraft operations forms the basis of all emission inventories at airports. The international standard for calculating fuel burn and emissions produced is the landing and takeoff cycle of the International Civil Aviation Organization and forms the basis for many emission inventory models and emission charging schemes at airports. The acquisition of real-time aircraft flight data recorder information provided a unique opportunity to compare actual operational fuel flows and times in mode to the International Civil Aviation Organization standard. For departures, there is tremendous variety in fuel flow patterns, rates of fuel flow, and times in mode. Only 67% of the flights analyzed show a classic transition from takeoff to climbout. Most of the remaining flights showed essentially flat-line fuel flow profiles. All aircraft showed some fuel flow rates indicative of reduced-thrust departures. The certificated values for departure fuel burn matched favorably to the real-time totals for four-engine aircraft. However, for the twin-engine aircraft in this study, total departure fuel burn was grossly overpredicted, due to shorter observed departure times in mode. The average approach times in mode were slightly higher than the International Civil Aviation Organization norm, but approach fuel flow rates were significantly lower, yielding lower total fuel burn values. In general, total fuel burn for both departures and arrivals is overestimated by the International Civil Aviation Organization method. DOI: 10.2514/1.42432

ABSTRACT Today, about one-fourth of U.S. commercial service airports, including 41 of the busiest 50, are either in nonattainment or maintenance areas per the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. U.S. [...]

The National Park Service (NPS) develops winter use plans for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks to help manage the use of Over-Snow Vehicles (OSVs), such as snowmobiles and snowcoaches. The use and management of OSVs in the parks is an issue because of potential environmental impacts and because of actions by environmental, recreational, and commercial groups. The U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (the Volpe Center) supported the NPS by modeling the acoustical environment in the parks associated with potential modeling alternatives as well as current and historical conditions. The modeling considered a number of alternatives for inclusion in the NPS's winter use plans. These alternatives affect the type and number of OSVs that are allowed to operate in the parks and where they are allowed to travel. The acoustical modeling was performed by using the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Integrated Noise Model (INM), adapted for use with OSVs. INM adaptation included the development of an over-ground sound propagation model to account for propagation over snow-covered terrain. The Volpe Center also developed a new OSV noise database, which defined OSV noise as a function of speed and source-to-receiver distance, based on previously published OSV acoustical studies and winter 2005-2006 measurements. Vehicle types modeled included two- and four-stroke snowmobiles as well as two- and four-track snowcoaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]