Aviation has come a long way in reducing its emissions, with new generation engines and aerodynamic tweaks such as winglets producing significant savings. However, the next stage is harder, with only smaller incremental changes possible. One technology being applied is big data.
Aircraft generate massive amounts of data and advances in processing have allowed the development of innovative solutions that can help to save fuel. One hindrance to these is crowded airspace, which mean altitude changes for more favourable winds, short cuts by direct routing, or continuous descent approaches are not always possible but it still possible to make other aspects of a flight more efficient. In addition, burning fuel to carry fuel can be reduced by more accurate planning.
Safety Line
François Chazelle, chief commercial officer, says Safety Line is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. It started as a funded research project at the Telecom Paris Tech Incubator in 2011, with the company being founded in the same year. Its first product was SafetyCube, an integrated compliance, safety and risk management solution,
Analysis of some 30 parameters of flight data stored by the Quick Access Recorder led to the realisation that it very precisely captured individual aircraft performance in different configurations. An in-house data science research lab was set up to develop predictive and prescriptive solutions, using Machine Learning performance models for each aircraft, that could optimise specific flight phases and provide recommendations to pilots. There is an OEM aircraft model, he notes, that is used by the FMS but it is not as accurate as real life data, which can also detect changes in aircraft performance over time.
The first area of interest was the climb-out phase, which has the highest fuel burn. Often, climb-out starts with a first speed of 250kts to 100,000ft but this, he says, is a response to regulations that say a maximum of 250kts to a minimum of 100,000ft. The result was OptiClimb, launched in 2018, a more nuanced approach with the potential to produce significant savings. By using wind and temperature inputs every 1000ft, which are predictable up to 12 hours ahead, customized climb speeds and altitudes are sent to pilots to be included in their briefing package. These are slower horizontal speeds which for a given thrust result in higher vertical speeds and a higher climb angle, getting the aircraft to altitude sooner, where it consumes less fuel.
Transavia France was the first airline to implement OptiClimb. The first experimental flights started in Summer 2015, followed by an initial test phase with 10% of the pilots the following year. In the second half of 2017, it was tested by sister company Transavia Netherlands. A contract was signed with both companies in December that year. In 2019, Transavia France had 18,067 OptiClimb flights, with an average saving of 85kg of fuel per flight, giving a reduction in CO2 emissions of 4,837 tons.
Mexican ultra low-cost carrier VivaAerobus started testing OptiClimb in April 2020. This followed a full scale trial of almost 4000 flights before the pandemic eventually reached Mexico, with application rates as high as 83%, providing plenty of useful data. As a result, the airline should be able to save in average of 70kg of fuel for each climb, which could represent a fleetwide carbon footprint reduction of at least 14,000 tons of CO2 per year.
Other OptiClimb customers include Air Austral, Air Asia, Sky, TAP Express and TUI.
OptiClimb is now just one of a suite of programs that form OptiFlight. The others are:
• OptiSpeed, which shows pilots the fuel and time impact of Mach variations to enable on-time arrival with the best fuel/time ratio.
• OptiDirect, which recommends shortcuts that pilots can request from ATC based on historical tracks flown, with an indication of fuel and time savings taking into account the wind and temperatures forecasts for the flight.
• OptiLevel, which advises pilots on the best initial flight level and potential cruise level changes taking winds into account.
These three products are packaged as OptiCruise.
Safety Line says their product, AirsideWatch, uses surface movement radar data from parking and pushback to line up and take off, or from landing and runway exit to the gate. This data helps them analyze segments to determine taxi time, distance, time at gate and time at de-icing bays. This information can then be used to help airports reduce their environmental impact. Safety Line image.
Finally, there is:
• OptiDescent, which helps pilots better anticipate on Distance to Go based on Machine Learning of historical approach patterns, including landing direction and the time of day.
OptiDirect trials were carried by Transavia, starting in June 2019. Almost 18 months later, pilots had taken 1895 shortcuts, with average savings of 37kg of fuel and 55 seconds of time saved on average per shortcut. That represents 84tons of fuel and 35 hours of flight time saved in the test, with CO2 emissions reduced by 264 tons.
Other OptiDirect customers include Air France, Aerologic and Condor.
Following a partnership agreement in September 2020, OptiCruise was integrated in SITA’s widely used eWAS Pilot mobile application, which is part of SITA FOR AIRCRAFT’s ‘Digital Day of Operations’ portfolio. eWAS Pilot, used by 50,000 pilots of commercial airlines, business jets and cargo airlines, provides accurate 4D weather forecasts and real-time updates from various sources to warn about weather hazards such as thunderstorms, lightning, clear air turbulence, strong winds, icing and even volcanic ash.
First customer for the new package was AeroLogic, the joint venture between DHL and Lufthansa Cargo. It operates around 12,000 international flights a year with a fleet of 17 Boeing 777F freighters.
In July 2021, the link between the two companies was strengthened when SITA announced the acquisition of Safety Line.
This will bring Safety Line’s AirsideWatch into SITA’s portfolio, expanding its airports offering to airside operations
AirsideWatch uses surface movement radar data. This is usually used to monitor live ground traffic of aircraft and airside vehicles for safety purposes. However, by converting the data into searchable aircraft trajectories, it provides insight on a variety of criteria such as multiple points of passage, airline, aircraft type, date and time, type of trajectory phase, and visibility and lighting conditions.
Trajectories are broken down into specific phases, from parking and pushback to line up and take off, or from landing and runway exit to the gate, with the possibility to identify the time and distance covered. This allows for additional analytics such as taxi time and distance, time at gate, or time at de-icing bays. These extremely precise inputs can be incorporated into noise and emissions simulation models to help airports to reduce their environmental impact.
Safety Line says OEM aircraft models that are used by the FMS are not as accurate as real life data, which can also detect changes in aircraft performance over time. Typical European flight routes are shown here. Safety Line image.
Finally, Safety Line has been involved in several two and development projects related to the reduction of CO2 emissions. As part of the European Commission’s Clean Sky2 research program, PERF-AI will apply Machine Learning techniques on flight data to accurately measure actual aircraft performance and provide real time optimisation of flight. It is joined by INRIA Lille, the French national research institute for digital sciences, and Thales as Topic Leader and had Lufthansa and Transavia France on the project advisory board.
An earlier project also involved INRIA, this time the COMMANDS research team from the Saclay–Île-de-France research center, whose main focus is studying dynamic optimization. This has seen the creation of an INRIA joint Innovation Lab called OptimiSation of Consumption for AiRplanes (OSCAR). The three-year project aimed to improve climb optimization.
LATAM DIVES INTO THE GREEN
LATAM Airlines is to upgrade over 200 of their A320 Family fleet by adding the Descent Profile Optimisation (DPO) function from Airbus to aircraft’s Flight Management System (FMS) performance database. All the equipment kits required for the installation of the DPO performance software will start to be delivered from the end of 2021 until early 2022.
The DPO function allows aircraft to descend from cruise altitude using only idle engine thrust, which reduces fuel consumption, bringing proportional CO2 and NOx reductions. It also maximises the time spent at efficient cruise levels by not starting the descent too early, which minimises the amount of time spent at the inefficient ‘level-off’ stage at the bottom of the descent, when the aircraft’s engines need higher thrust to maintain level flight in dense air prior to final approach.
LATAM Airlines will generate savings of more than 100 tons of fuel and more than over 300 tons of CO2 emissions per aircraft per year across their network, including constrained airports like Lima, Santiago and São Paulo. Across the fleet, this represents a reduction in fuel consumption of more than 20,000 tons and 60,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
TAKING CONTROL OF EMISSIONS
While saying that airspace efficiencies are sometimes compromised by ATC restrictions, it is only fair to look at the experience of one airspace navigation services provider. In this case, it is NATS in the UK, which has handled up to 2.4 million flights and 250 million passengers in a year.
Obviously, that was before COVID-19, which, ironically, made it easier to be more efficient with a reduced level of flights – holding patterns almost entirely vanished, as did vertical limitations, direct routings increased, and continuous climbs (direct to 100,000ft without levelling off) increased by 15% to 85% of all departures. For arrivals, the biggest fuel saver is Continuous Descent Approaches (CDA), a smooth descent with reduced power and no levelling off. However, this was unaffected by the pandemic. In fact, the 2019/20 average was 80% across the 22 UK airports covered by NATS, with London airfields operating around 90%.
The focus now is to maintain that efficiency as the industry recovers, although, in the case of CDAs, higher targets will only produce marginal gains as 100% is impossible due to factors such as go-arounds and non-standard conditions such as high winds.
NATS also gathers other data such as continuous climb, fuel burn and CO2 of the actual radar tracks and airline flight plan, as well as the amount of track extension over optimum. This is used in what it calls it 3Di metric (three-dimensional insight score), which has been running since 2012 as part of the contract with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This measures the efficiency of every commercial aircraft flight, which, across the year, are averaged and compared to targets set by the CAA. While it is a barometer of performance, with financial penalties or bonuses, NATS says it is also a strong incentive to make every flight handled as efficient as possible, with subsequent reductions in emissions. The data is used by airports, airlines and ATC to identify differences and opportunities.
Honeywell
The U. S. company has taken a slightly different approach to emissions reduction with its Honeywell Forge Flight Efficiency program as it allows flight planners to reduce the amount of reserve fuel that needs to be carried, while meeting regulatory safety minima.
Traditionally, fuel loads are determined using flight plans, weather forecasts, navigation changes and aircraft performance data as well as historical fuel burn records on each sector. This is known as Statistical Contingency Fuel (SCF). However, airlines have always been very conservative in their fuel loading practices.
In 2015, environmental researchers studying a major US airline found 4.48% of the fuel consumed on an average flight was due to carrying unused fuel, with 1.04% consumed to carry fuel above what they called “a reasonable buffer.” That is important as, depending on the aircraft type and configuration, it takes 3-4kg of fuel per hour to carry each 100kg of load.
The company estimates that SCF quantities can be reduced from today’s customary 5-10% to the range of 3% or even less, saving hundreds of kilos of weight and dramatically reducing fuel consumption on a typical flight.
For a typical airline with a mixed fleet, the most frequent SCF exceedances for flights less than 500 miles and over 1,500 miles would be in the 3-3.3% range, with 4.5% for flights between 500-1500 Very long flights have a wider discrepancy (5.5%) deviation.
The variation is often greatest when flight times between a particular city pair may be affected by such things as headwinds and tailwinds. For example, there may be a smaller exceedance on an outbound flight between Chicago and Phoenix than on the return flight. The flight planner might allocate an additional 3% of fuel for each leg, whereas Honeywell Forge Flight Efficiency would probably recommend 1% for the outbound flight and 5% for the return. While that might mean refuelling at Phoenix, there are still overall reductions in costs, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
“No matter where an airline is in its flight-efficiency and sustainability program, Honeywell can help it take the next major step — and the step after that — towards a smaller carbon footprint and simplified tracking and reporting, thus engaging the entire organization to promote a fuel and carbon reduction culture. Additionally, it can help optimize current best practices, unearth new fuel-saving opportunities, or perform a deeper analysis of operational data in support of the broader sustainability commitments of the enterprise,” said Bob Buddecke, president, Honeywell Connected Aerospace.
The program’s decision comes from analysis of the variation between the planned and actual fuel used over hundreds of flights between city pairs and a two-year period. It is easily integrated with major airline flight-planning systems such as LIDO and Sabre DM/FPM, while easy-to-read data displays let flight crews and dispatcher compare options and clearly see the impact of their decisions on fuel consumption. Data also is normalized to reflect seasonal variations, like changing weather patterns that can cause delays or diversions.
To ensure consistent accuracy, Honeywell continuously monitors the custom algorithm for each operator to ensure that it accurately reflects the fuel-loading recommendation for each city pair flown.
StorkJet
StorkJet, based in Katowice in Poland, helps airlines save fuel with advanced data analysis. Thanks to artificial intelligence they monitor precisely aircraft performance and optimize fuel consumption across 44 fuel initiatives. Its customer base includes JetSMART and Volaris in the South America and Air Atlanta, LOT Polish Airlines and Wizz Air in Europe. Air Astana signed up in July 2021.
* Assumptions: 2 hour flight; 50 aircraft in the fleet; fuel price $500/tonne; 1,500 sectors per year per aircraft Source: Storkjet
Piotr Niedziela, co-founder and head of Business Development, explains that one of the company’s products is AdvancedAPM which helps airlines precisely monitor aircraft performance and diagnose root causes of performance degradation. It compares actual fuel consumption of each aircraft to a brand new one. The difference is called performance factor and is later on used in multiple systems like FMS and Flight Planning System to properly plan fuel for the flight, as well as optimize speeds, altitudes and trajectory of the flight.
* Assumptions: Savings assuming 50 aircraft in the fleet; fuel price $600/tonne; 1,500 sectors per year per aircraft. Average acceleration altitude is 1,000ft for low, 3,000ft for high Source: Storkjet
The second StorkJet product is FuelPro — a fuel efficiency platform with over 44 options across the entire spectrum of airline operations which can be optimized, including fuel policy, flight planning, ground operations, APUs, departure, flight speed, vertical profile optimisation and arrival. Each fuel initiative has a dedicated AI mode, that creates ‘what if scenarios’, compares fuel burn between them and indicate the precise savings potential that an airline can achieve. Such powerful analysis can be further broken down into time periods, airports, runway, aircraft type, individual aircraft and many more.
As pilots are the most important factor in the efficiency process, with FuelPro they also have dedicated app where they can check their fuel score. They are being encouraged in a friendly way, being informed how much CO2 or trees they have saved with efficient flights. After each flight they receive a debriefing with information on how close they were to optimum policies, like optimal flight speed and vertical profile during climb, cruise, and descent.
One example of where fuel savings can be made is the amount of additional fuel that is carried. There are many different types of additional fuel which could be safely optimized like contingency fuel, final reserve, discretionary, alternate fuel etc. Looking at the numbers, even with 100kg fuel less onboard at an airline operating 50 aircraft can save between $120,000-200,000 annually. See Table 1, previous page.
In the case of LOT Polish Airlines, it used FuelPro to reduce Contingency Fuel on their Boeing 787 fleet. The result was a change in policy from 5% to 3%, which brought savings of $1.8 millions in just one year.
With FuelPro airlines can also easily check what is the real saving potential with using low acceleration altitude and low flaps during take-off. What might be interesting is that with AI models airlines can check different scenarios and be aware of real impact of non-compliant flights. Averages, based on 1 mlnute of flights are shown in Table 2, previous page.
At the moment the company is working on an EU-funded project for real time optimizations — fuel briefing and debriefing via the EFB.
Rolls-Royce-opened its new Testbed 80 facility, the largest indoor test facility in the world, at its headquarters in Derby, UK in May. But Rolls-Royce is eyeing more than traditional powerplant testing for this new facility as the company goes all in on sustainability and emissions reduction.
In May, Rolls-Royce-opened its new Testbed 80 facility at its headquarters in Derby, UK, but this is not just a new engine test cell, it is an important marker for the company’s ambitions for the future as it aims to become a major player in environmentally friendly aviation.
Simon Burr, director of Product Development and Technology, explains that Testbed 80 joins a network of engine, system and component test facilities in the UK, Europe and North America (plus a Boeing 747-200 and a 747-400 used for flight trials) and its work will include the development of the UltraFan ultra-high bypass ratio technology demonstrator. The target is a 25% improvement in efficiency over the Trent 700.
Left, a drone’s eye view of the new Rolls-Royce Testbed 80 faciltiy in Derby, UK. Above, a rendering of the testbed.
However, the £90 million investment will also be used to improve the fuel efficiency and durability of existing engines and to develop more environmentally friendly alternative electric and hybrid powerplant systems for the future. This reflects the company’s involvement in a number of projects internationally that are pushing for cleaner aviation.
The size of the building makes it the largest indoor test facility in the world. This has been dictated by the hugely increased airflow mass requirements of UltraFan. The demonstrator will have a thrust rating of 85,000lb, although the technology has been designed to be scalable from 25,000lb to 100,000lb, making any future production engines capable of powering both narrowbody and widebody aircraft. At its higher thrust, the engine has a 15:1 bypass ratio and the geared fan has a diameter of 140in. That compares to 9.3:1 and 118in respectively for the Trent XWB-84 for the Airbus A350.
To accommodate that fan size, there is a 49ft diameter main test bed cross section, while to produce the correct diffusion of the bypass air and exhaust gases, there is a long augmentor tube some 110ft long. The mixture is then turned through 90° before being vented through a 123ft high exhaust stack. The overall length of the building is 425.5ft.
Capabilities will include endurance testing, blade-off tests and water, sand and bird ingestion, while a dynamic X-ray capability will monitor clearances between moving parts, capturing 30 images/second. The latter is being funded by the UK Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) under its Proving Advanced Concept Engines (PACE) program. It will be mounted on the pylon, which is being supplied by UK-based Hyde Group.
Design and construction of the test cell was led by MDS Aero Support Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. They also supplied all of the test systems. Rolls-Royce image.
Most test cells have an overhead gantry system that allows engines to be raised and moved from the preparation area and mated directly to the pylon. In Testbed 80, engines will be transferred on a robotic mover, which will then raise the entire propulsion unit to the pylon. Although this makes the vehicle much bigger and stronger, it requires less maintenance and improves safety.
Of course, as well as the usual connection via the pylon, the engines will be heavily instrumented, with more than 10,000 parameters being measured (3,500 to 5,000 on current engines), with up to 200,000 samples per second, giving a data flow of 1 terabyte/hour.
The test cell was used for the first time 12 January 2021, with a Trent engine, which reached 100,000lb thrust just a week later — the test cell maximum is 155,000lb of thrust. These were functionality checks. As no production engines will be tested, it does not have to be calibrated and approved by the aviation authorities.
Design and construction have been led by MDS Aero Support Corporation of Ottawa, Canada, a long-term partner of the engine OEM, which also supplied all of the test systems, including aerodynamic and acoustic elements, a thrust measurement system, engine adapters for current and future engines, and mechanical and fluid support systems. It also supplied its nxDAS data acquisition and controls system. Building work started in May 2018.
Noise has been an important consideration throughout the design process. As well as external noise (the exhaust is quiet enough that the facility can be used at any time of day or night), great care has been taken to avoid infrasound, low frequency noise that can have a detrimental effect on the integrity of the building as well as the employees working in close proximity. MDS used Computational Fluid Dynamics to ensure there were no tones or resonances in the air flow. This has involved the use of double skinned walls in some areas, while ballistic protection has been installed for blade off tests. In fact, noise from the test cell is so low that it is relayed into the control room, as skilled engineers can identify a problem by ear, with the possibility it may not show up on the telemetry.
The first UltraFan run in Testbed 80 is scheduled for next year but it is already being used for endurance tests and the evaluation of new manufacturing processes coatings. When that run happens, the engine will be use 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), another part of the environmental program. The facility’s 32,000 USG fuel system was designed to handle different fuel types, including SAF. Burr notes that UltraFan has fuel seals made from synthetic material, which will not suffer degradation like nitrile seals when exposed to SAF over a period of time, one of the reasons for the current limit of a 50/50 maximum blend.
To further this work, at the end of June, Rolls-Royce signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with fuel company Shell to progress the use of SAF. This includes Rolls-Royce’s new SAFinity service, providing SAF for business aircraft operators, with Shell as exclusive supplier, but will also involve Rolls-Royce lending its technical expertise to advise Shell in its new fuels development. The two partners will also engage with industry bodies and forums to progress strategic policy issues. One of these is gaining approval for 100% SAF, as the company has a commitment to have all in-production civil aero engines compatible by 2023. In addition, they will assess broader opportunities in other mobility sectors such as shipping and rail.
Rolls-Royce and Norwegian airline Widerøe have been collaborating since 2019 to develop electric aircraft with a tremendous reduction in emissions. The two are hoping for a 2030 entry to commercial service. Rolls-Royce image.
Speaking at the announcement of the MoU, Paul Stein, chief technology officer at Rolls-Royce, said: “We believe that working together on these aims can deliver benefits for both the development of new innovations as well as collaborating to find ways to unlock the net carbon emissions reduction potential of technology that is already in use today. SAFs will not only power large aircraft and business aviation, but also hybrid electric Urban Air Mobility and the forthcoming generation of hybrid fixed wing city hoppers, which is why we place such importance on the ramp up of SAF adoption across the industry.”
Electric/hybrid aircraft
The company is heavily involved in electric and hybrid propulsion and is making real progress, along with making significant investments. Electric aircraft are often seen as too limited for commercial operations but one project shows that reality is not far away.
Rolls-Royce and Norwegian airline Widerøe announced a joint research program in 2019 to evaluate and develop electrical aircraft concepts that would enter commercial service by 2030 and produce an 80% emission reduction in domestic flights by 2040.
The reason for the collaboration is that Widerøe currently flies Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft on a Short Take-off and Landing (STOL) network, with many Public Service Obligation routes, linking remote communities with larger towns and cities. Before the pandemic, there were around 400 flights per day using a network of 44 airports, and 74% of the flights had distances less than 170 miles, with the shortest flight durations between seven and 15 minutes. Those operating parameters are ideal for electric aircraft
Separately, Rolls-Royce had been working with Italian aircraft manufacturer Tecnam on an electric version of its 11-seat Tecnam P2012 Traveller, called P-Volt, announced in October 2020. This, in turn, built on the H3PS project: a hybrid electric version of the P2010 four-seater, pairing an electric motor from Rolls-Royce with a combustion engine from Rotax.
In March this year, the three companies joined forces, accelerating the program to entry into service of an electric P2012 in 2026.
Shown here is the hybrid engine PGS1, which Rolls-Royce says forms an important element of their sustainability strategy. Rolls-Royce image.
On a larger scale, July saw a further step forward in the 2.5-megawatt (MW) Power Generation System 1 (PGS1) demonstrator program for future regional aircraft. This had its roots in the Airbus/Rolls-Royce/Siemens E-Fan X project, which would have seen one of four Lycoming ALF502 engines on a BAe RJ100 test aircraft replaced with a hybrid engine combining an AE2100 turboprop with a 2.5MW generator. Sadly, COVID-19 caused Airbus to pull the plug in April 2020, by which time Rolls-Royce had purchased the electric propulsion branch of Siemens, transferring the work to Rolls-Royce Electrical Norway. As yet another pointer to the company’s environmental commitment, it took over development of the hybrid engine itself, turning it into PGS1.
The July event saw the delivery of the generator and related power electronics delivered from Trondheim, Norway, to the newly-renovated Testbed 108 in Bristol, UK, where the AE2100 engine element, specialist controls and the thermal management system from Indianapolis had already been run.
Again, looking at other industry sectors, in addition to hybrid-electric propulsion, the generator could also be used as part of a ‘more-electric’ system for larger aircraft or within future ground or marine applications. Incidentally, Testbed 80 also has extensive load bank capability to support this type of testing.
Both Testbed 108 and PGS1 have been supported by the UK Aerospace Technology Institute’s MegaFlight project, while design, make and testing of the 2.5MW electrical generator, motor and power electronics in Trondheim has been supported by the EU Clean Sky 2 program.
Finally, Rolls-Royce announced in June that it is planning an £80 million investment in developing energy storage systems (ESS) for electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems that will enable aircraft to undertake zero emissions flights of over 100 miles on a single charge. That includes eVTOLs (electric vertical take off and landing) in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market (where it is working with UK-based Vertical Aerospace on the VA-X4 — see related story page 59) and fixed-wing aircraft, with up to 19 seats in the commuter market. Targets include the creation of around 300 jobs by 2030 and the integration of more than 5 million battery cells per annum into modular systems by 2035.
Rolls-Royce has considerable experience, having designed 10 different aerospace battery systems. Of these, four designs have already flown in three aircraft, accumulating more than 250 hours of flight experience and another two designs will complete their first flight in aircraft in 2021. This includes a battery developed with Electroflight, its UK manufacturing partner in the ACCEL program, which has built the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ (a heavily modified Nemesis NXT racing aircraft). That aircraft is planned to break the world speed record for all-electric aircraft later this year. Another partner in developing energy storage technology is WMG, an academic department at the University of Warwick specializing in collaboration between academia and the public and private sectors, which has extensive knowledge gained through supporting the automotive and other sectors. ATI has once again supported both ACCEL and the initial ESS research and technology.
In Testbed 80, engines will be transferred on a robotic mover, which will then raise the entire propulsion unit to the pylon, Rolls-Royce says. Top image shows the Spirit of Innovation — a battery-driven, heavily modified Nemesis NXT racing aircraft developed with partner Electroflight. Rolls-Royce images.
For a company best known for conventional turbofan and turboprop engines, it is clear that a new Rolls-Royce is emerging, one that is determined to push the boundaries of technology when it comes to greener aviation. This is all the more impressive in the light of the hammering the company has taken because of the pandemic, not just with new production engines but with the TotalCare support business, as flying hours have been slashed.
We have all had a flight delayed because of a technical problem and experienced that heart sinking moment when the captain announces that “we’re just waiting for the paperwork”, because it is impossible to guess how much longer it will be until push back. While there is widespread use of electronic logbooks (ELBs) by flight crew, replacing the famous pilot cases, there has been slightly less use of electronic technical logs (ETLs) to replace hard copy documentation and even less integration with other IT systems in the airline, so the response to a problem can be lengthy and relatively disorganized.
For a non-electronic system, from the manifestation of the fault on the flight deck, there is communication of the problem to the Maintenance Control Center (MCC), which will carry out research to find a solution, including generating the necessary paperwork in the Maintenance Information System (MIS) and ordering the replacement parts. Even if the mechanics have pre-warning and replacement parts, they will still always read the tech log, as information can get degraded while passing down the chain from pilot to MCC to shift supervisor to lead mechanic before it gets to them on the line. That still doesn’t resolve problems with understanding bad handwriting or if the crew have made an accurate assessment of the fault. For example, a stall warning can be triggered by landing gear, flight controls or caution and alerting – three different ATA chapters.
If the crew and maintenance can connect to a much wider data pool, diagnosis becomes much more accurate and standardized, with no room for misunderstanding. A database of fault codes generated by the aircraft’s maintenance computer would immediately give the source of that stall warning. With a better idea of how long the problem will take to rectify, plans can be made to minimize delays, perhaps by swapping the aircraft for another on the next sector if the times exceeds the turnaround. Once the problem is resolved, the mechanic can sign off the job on their device and this will alert the crew via the ELB/ETL – no crowding into the cockpit or passing forms through windows. Minutes saved in this way potentially avoid delays and cancellations later.
But why is paper still so common? One reason is inertia in huge organizations. It seems that the push for ELBs sometimes comes from flight operations, where cockpit crew see the immediate benefit, while there is push back from maintenance as they ‘own’ the paper logs. The final procurement decision in this case is usually taken at a management level that has oversight of both departments and so has a greater understanding of the potential advantages to the whole company.
Japan Airlines uses IT to the maximum, says Ultramain. They began in 2016, implemented AMOS from Swiss AviationSoftware in 2018 and Ultramain’s ELB (including a Cabin log) and Mobile Mechanic for line maintenance in 2019. Ultramain image.
Ultramain
John Stone, VP of Product Management at Ultramain, says the challenge is to help airlines to understand the benefits so they want to get involved early, rather than them feeling that they have to do it because everyone else is going paperless, which seems to be the mentality of the majority of operators right now. Having said that, he notes that it is six years since Ultramain carried out a software implementation that involved paper.
He also points out that an airline with 100 aircraft is going to have millions of paper log pages. They will have been typed up manually, with a risk of error. They may have been scanned into an IT system, but they will still have to be boxed up and shipped to a warehouse, where they will sit useless and unchecked unless there is an accident that requires their retrieval. If regulatory changes are introduced, existing stocks of logbooks will have to be thrown away and reprints ordered in the new format. All of this is costly and inefficient. A good example of new technology here is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from EASA. British Airways, an Ultramain customer, simply changed the ELB format electronically overnight.
He adds that Ultramain’s ELB can also hold details of the previous 50 flights, allowing the mechanic to check whether they are dealing with a recurrent fault. Of course, this data can also be used separately to analyse individual aircraft or the entire fleet. Another advantage of the ELB is that fuel, oil and hydraulic fluid consumption can be monitored and any exceedances quickly identified. Billing can also be expedited. It would take several days in either case with a paper-based system.
With over 1 million sectors flown with Ultramain ELB by customers including Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific (a customer for 20 years) and Japan Airlines, he says the company has accumulated vast experience of airline operations, which help in the development of new and improved products.
However, it is Japan Airlines that he singles out for particular comment, as it has developed a complete maintenance strategy that uses IT to the maximum. This is the Zero-Zero-100 programme: zero irregular operations or inflight shutdowns; zero inflight defects and 100% on time departures. This started in 2016, with AMOS from Swiss AviationSoftware being added in 2018 and Ultramain’s ELB (including a Cabin log) and Mobile Mechanic for line maintenance following in 2019. Also included was Ultramain’s Crew Communication System, which allows flight crew to contact engineering with a single button.
The main driver behind Zero-Zero-100, he explains, was that the airline had been using a paper-based system but the introduction of the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, both e-enabled aircraft, made this ripe for replacement. However, the airline’s vision extended far beyond the new aircraft to the digitalization of the entire maintenance organization. This is definitely the way forward for progressive operators.
Converge
Cameron Hood, CEO of NVable, has a slightly different take on the situation as his company produces CONVERGE, a combination of an Electronic Technical Log and the associated processing software. It was involved in trialling initial versions of the ETL in the 1990s and was the first to introduce the Panasonic Toughpad as a preferred platform for the ETL with an airline and the first to introduce the use of Microsoft Azure and the benefits of scalable, secure cloud architecture to an airline data environment.
In his experience, the ETL procurement decision is usually driven by Maintenance Operations Control, with line engineers the second to benefit as they are usually not catered for at all. Flight crew have their EFBs so are happy but he acknowledges they do have an important input to ETL operations and the decision to acquire such a system needs their acceptance.
He says there has been some confusion between EFB and ETL, with the latter sometimes being called EFB hardware. This leads to most people thinking that all that is needed is an EFB and an iPad, with the ETL software on the latter. This is certainly possible from a technical point of view but he points out that the paper technical log stays with the aircraft at all times, as required by the aviation authorities. He strongly believes the ETL should not be a personal issue device and should also remain with the aircraft at all times.
He adds that a key element is two-way communication, with the device able to transmit data back to base for subsequent analysis and to receive data from the airline’s main server to give salient information to technical staff at work with a problem. This is particularly useful if there is a rogue aircraft in the fleet with unusual serviceability issues or operational restrictions, as they can be made aware of the potential difficulties.
CONVERGE has multiple modules, although three are at the core. The Line Maintenance Module bundles work items from multiple sources into a single work pack for an aircraft, and schedule when it should be carried out. It will then be transmitted to the ETL and be available to action at the appropriate time. Defects are created automatically meaning less work for engineers, and the status is updated automatically via the CONVERGE Website allowing MOC a real time view of exactly what is going on where.
NVable CEO Cameron Hood says there has been some confusion between EFB and ETL, with the latter sometimes being called EFB hardware. He says that has lead to thinking all that is needed is an EFB and an iPad, with the ETL software on the latter. That’s possible but he strongly believes the ETL should not be a personal issue device and should stay with the aircraft. NVable image.
The Damage Module allows full lifecycle management of scrapes and dents. These are located on the appropriate view or chart of the aircraft that are available in the ETL. Once selected, you can scroll around and zoom in and out to allow exact placement of the damage marker and the necessary information is entered. Photographs of the damage can be captured throughout the life of the damaged item to allow degrading damage to be identified and tracked, giving a true timeline of any changes which may occur.
The Document Management module allows distribution of documents from the CONVERGE portal via the Web and ETL devices. Documents are added to a customer defined folder structure and each document revision is stored for auditing purposes. Permissions can be assigned at the Document or Folder level and, with documents having a Published and Unpublished state, you updated documents can be prepared in advance and release across the organization with a single click.
Given the wide range of data that is potentially available, he says it is really up to the airline to select its main requirements and for NVable to develop the necessary solutions. This might include information that is not directly relevant to maintenance. One customer is British Airways CityFlyer, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the flag carrier, operating regional flights with a fleet of 22 Embraer 190s. In this case, NVable collates schedule and flight data and puts it into a ‘warehouse’ so it can be analysed by the airlines as it needs it, perhaps for future operations. Another example might be validation of fuel usage, with pre-defined alert levels if there are exceedances. More complex solutions might be the calculation of a rolling consumption rate on oil. The data store can also be used for defect analysis and engineers can even register their associated repair activities as a useful bonus.
CONVERGE can interface with other IT systems, which was part of the original design, so data use is extended to other parts of the airline if the customer wishes. While the MIS is an obvious option, he also mentions finance for fuel billing but adds, in these environmentally sensitive times, CO2 analysis.
Visualization is again driven by what the customer wants. Multiple dashboards can be created, each tailored to a specific audience. Dashboards update as the data arrives and areas which need attention are highlighted in amber or red according to defined parameters. A Notification Module allows users to create their own notification rules and content, as well remaining in control of who receives the notifications (whether internal or third parties).
If an aircraft is moving on from an airline’s fleet, CONVERGE can produce a pdf of the technical records, more in keeping with traditional paper-based record keeping, but the company is also happy to facilitate getting all the online data moved out into an electronic format that can used by the new operator. This also applies to the damage record.
As for airlines looking for commercial off the shelf solutions, he feels that this will happen as the acceptance of the technology matures, not necessarily because of COVID-19, but the pandemic has given them a reason to think about how these systems might be used to make life easier if another emergency situation arose. For example, technicians could go from working at the airport to working from home as the fleet is grounded. There will still be regular checks required so those procedures could be loaded onto a personal issue device with automatic alerts when they are scheduled to be carried out.
Commsoft
The latest development for Converge is a link-up between NVable and Commsoft. John Wilson, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Commsoft, says CONVERGE is ‘best of breed’ and the intention is to deeply integrate it with his company’s OASES MRO software to help airlines deal more efficiently with technical problems. This will provide a seamless experience across all aspects of aircraft maintenance, flowing from the office, hangar, line activities and to each aircraft.
The company has an annual product road map and the latest version highlighted that customers generally dislike using software that doesn’t allow them to complete their workflow efficiently. Efficiency is particularly important where data is highly dynamic such as short-term planning and material provisioning. The main theme this year is to provide better tools for line maintenance planning and resource management, along with generally improved mobility and growing integration with operations systems and ETLs. Converge will help solve this as a three-day lag in processing paper logs is no longer acceptable and the joint venture is aimed squarely at the MOC and flight operations. If they have real time insight into a problem, he explains, they can start planning contingencies as well as simply resolving the issue, often one of the flaws in the current decision-making process.
Write it Up
Although ETLs have been around for a while, their potential has been under-utilized until now. With e-enabled aircraft and improved communications, along with much more sophisticated software, there is now a real opportunity to radically change maintenance procedures when it comes to resolving problems. However, it might also take a cultural change inside airlines to grasp that opportunity and use the data throughout the organization.
For many years, aircraft engine manufacturers have had access to inflight performance data, being warned of actual or impending failures. This has even allowed them to take pre-emptive action, having engineers with the correct spare parts waiting at the arrival gate. This was a consequence of powerplants being the most heavily instrumented systems on the aircraft, as well as the most flight critical. Unfortunately, many other components and systems on the aircraft were passive, unable to communicate their status as they were never considered to be important enough to justify the investment required, or that their failure would generate major problems such as delays, diversions and cancellations.
This changed with the latest generation of e-enabled aircraft, such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, with many new components and systems having been designed from scratch to be able to record their performance. In addition, developments in IT and telecoms made it much easier to transmit and analyze the data. As a result, not only is there a better awareness of more faults as they happen, huge amounts of routine data are generated from every flight, which can now be downloaded after landing and made available to OEMs, MROs and airline departments.
Of course, this is a massive exercise and, with every flight, the pool of information, or data lake, gets deeper. For example, the Skywise open data platform from Airbus, which was launched in 2017, had accumulated 12 petabytes of data by August last year, the latest date for which information is available because of the pandemic. At that point, 130 airlines had signed up to Skywise, with more than 9,000 aircraft in operation. As well as the airframer, there were also more than 10 suppliers involved along with four certified partners; 15,000 internal and 2,000 external users; and 700 data analysts trained by Airbus.
Several other open data platforms have since been launched, all with the aim of providing a neutral space in which data can be analyzed. This because the lake is now so deep that it is impossible for a single airline to navigate solo. Indeed, the trick is to convert raw data into useful information that has a direct effect on operations. That means each airline needs a program specifically tailored to its own unique operating environment as well as the assistance of outside specialists.
Many components and systems have fixed service intervals, usually defined by flight hours or cycles. Often, performance will gradually deteriorate with use. Using existing technical records, thresholds for each item can be established that trigger an alarm when a fault is likely to occur. A decision can then be made whether to remove the item prematurely, with the expectation that repair will cheaper than replacement after failure. Hence the term ‘predictive maintenance’.
While this sounds great, it is not straightforward. If an airline has a power by the hour contract, with fixed monthly payments, is it reasonable to expect a discount or refund if repair costs are reduced? An even bigger issue is that, to derive maximum advantage from the data lake, input really needs to come from across the worldwide fleet. This could show general failure trends for components as well as regional variations caused by climatic conditions, for example, or allow an airline to benchmark itself against industry averages. The platform builders always say the data remains the property of the airline and that it is completely anonymized when incorporated for wider analysis, but cut throat competition means some operators are always nervous about giving something away. Something not given away, of course, is the data processing, which is a subscription service.
Etihad
A good example is provided by Etihad Aviation Group, which was not only an early adopter of Skywise but assisted Airbus in its development, having started work on prognostics, data analytics and text mining algorithms in 2012, using the Intelligent Operations service from Taleris, a joint venture technology company between Accenture and GE Aviation. In 2013, it started working closely with Boeing using Airplane Health Management Gen3 Prognostics on the 777, focusing on ATA Chapters 21 (Air Conditioning), 30 (Ice & Rain Protection) and 36 (Pneumatic). These reflect sandy conditions in its home in Abu Dhabi, where a local university has helped with machine learning, data analytics and text mining. The Group has also worked with other industrial partners.
Bernhard Randerath, vice president Design, Engineering and Innovation, Etihad Aviation Group, says the aim has been to develop simple and verifiable monitoring algorithms, with failures being predicted 500 flight hours in advance. Condition monitoring should be available online and offline and adaptable to aircraft configuration changes. The number of new and existing sensors should be low and not only limited to the aircraft domain — passenger preferences/profiles and improved cabin reconfiguration have also been under study. This is typical of data mining, as airlines suddenly recognize the potential for other applications. After all, high value passengers are just as likely to be annoyed by a blank monitor as a delay caused by an engine problem.
Etihad Aviation Group says they set a goal to develop simple and verifiable monitoring algorithms, with failures being predicted 500 flight hours in advance. Etihad images.
Etihad defined six steps for nominating, isolating and predicting failures:
Step 1 – Choose for the right maintenance strategies
This is divided into three sections:
Improvement: reliability driven and includes modification, retrofit, redesign and change orders
Preventative: divided between equipment driven (self-scheduled, machine cued, control limits, when deficient and as required); predictive (statistical analysis, trends, vibration monitoring, tribology, thermography, ultrasonics and NDT); and time driven (periodic, fixed intervals, hard time limits, specific time)
Corrective: event driven and includes breakdowns, emergencies, remedial, repairs and rebuilds.
Step 2 – Choose the right relation between cost and value
In order of ascending value creation, this involves primitive (fix it when it breaks), preventative (preform time-based tasks), predictive (collect data, assess condition, repair as needed) and proactive (solve root cause of chronic problems)
Step 3 – Integrate operational data and isolate real problem makers
This can use general statistics, pilot reports, component removal reports and shop reports. This has been augmented by a dedicated reliability report, which better assists in identifying chronic problems.
Step 4 – How are predictions integrated in the maintenance process?
This involves breaking down the work orders costs that are included in the maintenance budget (reactive, periodic and non-periodic) and those that are excluded (production support, capital projects, expense projects and R&D/product testing/demonstrations)
Step 5 – Process and train in the right way
This includes condition monitoring and condition prediction processes. The condition prediction process has now been updated with certification information (temperature, HALT and HASS) as well as human factors. The result is more accurate predictive information in the case of operation in hot temperature conditions, like the home base.
Step 6 – Understand failures and integrate correction codes
This uses correction codes to achieve a Flat Local maximum and introduces local search algorithms with Hill Climbing functions.
This should produce an end-to-end intelligence platform, that is an autonomous data analytics system for prediction validation. This can be displayed on a dashboard tailored for use by the various departments in the airline, with MRO functions such as planning and electronic task cards having been added recently, although overall progress has been slowed by COVID-19 restrictions.
easyJet
Another early adopter and developer of Skywise was easyJet. It has long experience in this area, having started manual entry trend engine monitoring in 1990. In the 2000s, this switched to using ACARS. From 2015, it worked closely with Airbus to identify the top 100 technical issues affecting its operations as part of early Skywise development while 2016 saw the start of a project to analyze three years of data to try and spot trends. Flight trials in that year with equipment on 85 aircraft focused on three specific technical issues, with 14 impending failures being successfully identified.
Predictive maintenance is integrated into easyJet’s Operational Resilience Program, a suite of solutions that are used to keep day to day operations running smoothly. eeasyJet image.
Despite all this work, it took a rather different approach from Etihad as predictive maintenance is integrated into its Operational Resilience Program, a suite of solutions that are used to keep day to day operations running smoothly and when there are problems. For example, schedule design essentially puts the right sized aircraft at the right airport at the right time to match demand. Making sure the first wave of flights departs on time makes it easier to protect the schedule if something comes up later in the day. If this happens, there are revenue, customer and crew consequences that have to be resolved. That means the predictive analytics suite needs to anticipate weather, ATC, crew, aircraft and airport challenges so personnel can accurately assess schedule, aircraft, crew, customer, airport and cost impacts in response. Some of these other solutions include the Amadeus SkySYM flight network simulation solution, produced by Optym in partnership with Amadeus; a crew pairings analyzer; standby aircraft tracker and optimizer; and a claims forecaster.
As the industry begins to recover, any cost efficiencies that can be generated will be useful and predictive maintenance will play an important part.
Every day, thousands of aircraft make perfectly routine landings, roll out, exit the runway and head to the gate. It looks simple but throw in bad weather and problems arise that need distinct technologies to make this aspect of airline and airport operations as safe as possible.
Immediately after landing, an aircraft decelerates through a combination of braking, spoilers and thrust reverse, that combination being decided by the crew on the spur of the moment depending on the prevailing conditions, advice from air traffic control (ATC) and personal experience.
There is one big unknown in all of this: the condition of the runway and its braking efficiency. Airports carry out regular checks with vehicles to assess the type of contamination and its depth, as well as measuring surface friction, but these are relatively infrequent as operations cannot be disrupted and are usually more concerned with spotting debris. Another drawback of friction measurements, according to the NTSB, is that they are useful for identifying trends in runway surface conditions but they cannot be used to predict aircraft stopping performance. This is due to the lack of correlation with aircraft braking performance, as this varies between types, and there as variability in design and calibration of the measuring equipment.
The vehicle mounted Mobile GRF/TALPA Reporter from Vaisala includes a display (top) that shows the runway condition, including the RWYCC number, immediately after the length of the runway has been inspected. This uses the MD30 sensor (bottom) with three lasers to detect and assess whether conditions are dry, frost, slush, wet or ice. Vaisala image.
This means the most regular source of braking information comes from pilots. Unfortunately, not only are these reports entirely subjective, the actual conditions can be disguised by automatic braking systems which aim to provide a steady deceleration. Often, it is only at low speed that pilots can get a feel for actual runway conditions, by which time they will have travelled a fair proportion of its length.
In addition, weather changes constantly, often producing different braking conditions in different parts of the runway. The most obvious threats to adhesion are snow and ice. At least snowfall is consistent but the thawing process can produce random patches, some of which may be icy. Similarly, rainfall is usually constant but a heavy downpour, such as in monsoon conditions, can overcome runway drainage and result in standing water, with additional risk of aquaplaning. A fast moving squall line crossing the airport can even change the braking characteristics for the next aircraft on approach. Finally, blowing sand, while usually a visual problem, can also affect braking.
As can be seen, this makes braking action a worldwide problem. In fact, according to Airbus, statistics show that, between 1999 and 2019, runway excursions (off the side and off the end) accounted for 36% of hull losses and 16% of fatal accidents. In addition, ICAO says runway safety is one of its top three safety priorities, having started looking at the problem as far back as 2004, before setting up a Friction Task Force in 2008. From November 2021 (delayed by a year because of COVID-19), it will be introducing a new Global Reporting Format (GRF) for runway surface conditions. Although ICAO-registered international airports are required to comply, it is expected most other domestic or regional airports will also adopt GRF, although the preferred assessment methods and technologies are likely to vary according to climate, funding, and the amount of traffic.
GRF has two main components: the Runway Condition Assessment Matrix (RCAM), and the Runway Condition Code (RWYCC). The RCAM (see Table 1 above) has assessment criteria derived from a set of observed runway surface conditions and pilot reports of braking action. These are used to set the RWYCC for each third of the runway. This is supposed to help subsequent pilots to identify where contaminants are located and to be prepared for a possible change in aircraft performance. However, as those conditions can be masked by automatic braking, reports for the first two sections could be inaccurate. Any noticeable change may only be detected when there is already a problem.
Despite the limitations of the reports, they are now the primary means for reporting runway conditions, rather than friction measurements. One GRF requirement that helps slightly is the airport must carry out a physical assessment whenever landing aircraft indicate there are significant changes occurring, rather than periodically.
It would seem that a technological solution might be better and, fortunately, help is at hand.
Table 1 Runway Assessment Condition Matrix
One ground-based company that has responded to GRF is Vaisala in Finland. Well known for its airport meteorological systems, it has produced the Mobile GRF/TALPA Reporter. Vehicle mounted, this combines its well established MD30 sensor originally designed for use on snowplough with the Mobile RCR App and Road AI program.
GPS data automatically detects each runway third while the sensor uses three lasers to three lasers to detect and assess whether conditions are dry, frost, slush, wet or ice. At the same time, the RoadAI pavement data management, visualization and analysis platform uses computer vision and converts raw video data into color-coded condition maps for detailed analysis and tracking of defects in the runway surface. This allows the driver to focus on a visual inspection, looking for foreign objects or debris.
A high speed processor produces a report in GRF format soon after the end of the run, showing the condition of each third, complete with a RWYCC number. It also includes the contaminant type(s) for each runway section along with average and maximum coverage area and depth for each contaminant. After reviewing the report, the inspector is able to modify or confirm the data before sending it by email or SMS to appropriate airport department. The data is also stored by RoadAI for later analysis, with the option of video storage as well.
While that takes care of the assessment when conditions change, the real need is for technology that is aircraft based and available through the landing roll. One answer has come from Airbus.
The company has been working for years on improved braking system. First was the Runway Overrun Prevention System (ROPS), fitted to A320 Family, A330 A350 and A380. This continuously monitored the aircraft’s speed against the remaining runway length, calculating if it could stop in time. In 2018, NAVBLUE, an Airbus company, signed an agreement with Honeywell to provide a combination of ROPS and SmartLanding. This expanded the coverage envelope as SmartLanding, a software enhancement to Honeywell’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, provides initial warnings if an approach is too high, too fast or is not configured properly for landing. Unstable approaches are another major cause of overruns.
For the A380, a refinement was Brake To Vacate (BTV), which combines position data from aircraft’s GPS and the airport database in the On-Board Airport Navigation System (OANS) as well as Auto-Flight and Auto-Brake facilities. The crew pre-select their preferred exit point and, after landing, BTV controls the deceleration to reach the turn off at a safe speed. Although designed primarily to reduce the amount of heat generated by in the brakes, it does have a secondary role in preventing runway excursions, rather than overruns.
With RunwaySense, launched in July this year, data calculated by the Braking Action Computation Function (BACF) is sent automatically by ACARS message to NAVBLUE, where it is displayed on a web-service platform. The software is available free of charge to airlines by Airbus and NAVBLUE as part of a general safety drive, says Charles Thornberry, head of Sales Airport & Airspace at NAVBLUE. NAVBLUE images.
The next step was the Braking Action Computation Function (BACF) for the Airbus A320 Family. BACF development started in 2015, with trials with a number of airlines starting in 2017. Following its release in 2019, users now total 15, including airlines in Europe, North America and India. In all 200 aircraft are currently fitted with BACF, with another 800 or so to be modified in the future.
It uses an aircraft performance model, which contains reference runway conditions, and compares it to the conditions being experienced in each landing, taking into account the degrees of aerodynamic, thrust reverse and brakes being used. It also incorporates the FAA’s Take-off and Landing Performance Assessment (TALPA) Runway Condition Assessment Matrix (RCAM). After the aircraft reaches a ground speed below 30kts, the runway state is displayed to the pilot on a dedicated page on the multifunction control-display unit (MCDU). This gives the crew an opportunity to check their gut feeling about the landing and report to ATC if they feel conditions are different to those advised on approach.
The system proved itself during the trials in snowy weather at a Scandinavian airport. The initial coverage was just 2mm of wet snow, which gave Runway Condition Code (RWYCC) 4 (see Table 1), or Good to Medium conditions. Over the next 35 minutes, reports from four aircraft equipped with BACF showed a deterioration to RWYCC 2 (Medium to Poor). Five minutes later, with increasing snowfall, the runway condition worsened to RWYCC 1 (Poor). This would not have been possible without BACF.
Olivier Donchery, runway safety specialist at NAVBLUE, says that the system continues to prove valuable. About 90% of pilots who have evaluated BACF say it provides relevant information, with slippery when wet conditions detected condition in different region of the world. Airlines have been able to use this objective data during safety meetings with airports.
Having established the basic BACF module, the next step was to develop a system that could also be accessed by airports, airline operational centres and ATC. With RunwaySense, launched in July this year, the data calculated by BACF is sent automatically by ACARS message to NAVBLUE, where it is displayed on a web-service platform. The software is available free of charge to airlines by Airbus and NAVBLUE as part of a general safety drive, says Charles Thornberry, Head of Sales Airport & Airspace at NAVBLUE. It can be selected during the aircraft definition process or retrofitted as an Airline Operations Centre (AOC) application onto the Air Traffic Service Unit (ATSU). The only condition is that operators share the ACARS messages through the platform.
The non-airline users can have access on a subscription basis, he adds, either using the RunwaySense web-service platform or integrated into their existing systems using an API. The important aspect for them is that sharing reports in real-time will allow them to better understand how the conditions are changing, across an individual runway or across the airport as a whole. If there are airports on the network that are susceptible to conditions that might cause excursions, they can be kept under surveillance. Combined with wind, temperature and humidity data, it provides an insight into when snow clearance or runway deicing teams may have to be launched, if schedules are likely to be affected and if separation distances on approach may have to be extended. Of course, the system also provides notice of thawing and dying conditions as the RMYCC numbers change in a positive manner, again allowing users to consider what measures to take.
The more BACF-equipped aircraft are at a particular airport, the richer the data available and Thornberry says RunwaySense is mainly aimed at the narrowbody market, because of the huge fleet size and the range of airport types that they serve, potentially generating huge amounts of data. He expects the Airbus A220 to be added in the future, however, there is some interest for the A350, which has also been certified.
Perhaps the most important aspect of RunwaySense is indirect. The data may be collected by airlines operating Airbus aircraft but dissemination of that data helps all operators with any type aircraft to operate safely in adverse conditions. He says that is part of the company’s drive for overall safety improvements in the industry. And, of course, that matches perfectly with the aims of the ICAO GRF.
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