scholarly journals Weather Impact on Airport Performance

Aerospace ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schultz ◽  
Sandro Lorenz ◽  
Reinhard Schmitz ◽  
Luis Delgado
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Management ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Airport Capacity ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Weather events have a significant impact on airport performance and cause delayed operations if the airport capacity is constrained. We provide quantification of the individual airport performance with regards to an aggregated weather-performance metric. Specific weather phenomena are categorized by the air traffic management airport performance weather algorithm, which aims to quantify weather conditions at airports based on aviation routine meteorological reports. Our results are computed from a data set of 20.5 million European flights of 2013 and local weather data. A methodology is presented to evaluate the impact of weather events on the airport performance and to select the appropriate threshold for significant weather conditions. To provide an efficient method to capture the impact of weather, we modelled departing and arrival delays with probability distributions, which depend on airport size and meteorological impacts. These derived airport performance scores could be used in comprehensive air traffic network simulations to evaluate the network impact caused by weather induced local performance deterioration.

Impact of weather conditions on airport arrival delay and throughput

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro Rodríguez-Sanz ◽  
Javier Cano ◽  
Beatriz Rubio Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Arrival Process ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
Arrival Processes ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Weather events have a significant impact on airport arrival performance and may cause delays in operations and/or constraints in airport capacity. In Europe, almost half of all regulated airport traffic delay is due to adverse weather conditions. Moreover, the closer airports operate to their maximum capacity, the more severe is the impact of a capacity loss due to external events such as weather. Various weather uncertainties occurring during airport operations can significantly delay some arrival processes and cause network-wide effects on the overall air traffic management (ATM) system. Quantifying the impact of weather is, therefore, a key feature to improve the decision-making process that enhances airport performance. It would allow airport operators to identify the relevant weather information needed, and help them decide on the appropriate actions to mitigate the consequences of adverse weather events. Therefore, this research aims to understand and quantify the impact of weather conditions on airport arrival processes, so it can be properly predicted and managed. Design/methodology/approach This study presents a methodology to evaluate the impact of adverse weather events on airport arrival performance (delay and throughput) and to define operational thresholds for significant weather conditions. This study uses a Bayesian Network approach to relate weather data from meteorological reports and airport arrival performance data with scheduled and actual movements, as well as arrival delays. This allows us to understand the relationships between weather phenomena and their impacts on arrival delay and throughput. The proposed model also provides us with the values of the explanatory variables (weather events) that lead to certain operational thresholds in the target variables (arrival delay and throughput). This study then presents a quantification of the airport performance with regard to an aggregated weather-performance metric. Specific weather phenomena are categorized through a synthetic index, which aims to quantify weather conditions at a given airport, based on aviation routine meteorological reports. This helps us to manage uncertainty at airport arrival operations by relating index levels with airport performance results. Findings The results are computed from a data set of over 750,000 flights on a major European hub and from local weather data during the period 2015–2018. This study combines delay and capacity metrics at different airport operational stages for the arrival process (final approach, taxi-in and in-block). Therefore, the spatial boundary of this study is not only the airport but also its surrounding airspace, to take both the arrival sequencing and metering area and potential holding patterns into consideration. Originality/value This study introduces a new approach for modeling causal relationships between airport arrival performance indicators and meteorological events, which can be used to quantify the impact of weather in airport arrival conditions, predict the evolution of airport operational scenarios and support airport decision-making processes.

scholarly journals Advanced Flight Planning and the Benefit of In-Flight Aircraft Trajectory Optimization

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1383
Author(s):  
Judith Rosenow ◽  
Martin Lindner ◽  
Joachim Scheiderer
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Trajectory Optimization ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Aircraft Trajectory

The implementation of Trajectory-Based Operations, invented by the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research program SESAR, enables airlines to fly along optimized waypoint-less trajectories and accordingly to significantly increase the sustainability of the air transport system in a business with increasing environmental awareness. However, unsteady weather conditions and uncertain weather forecasts might induce the necessity to re-optimize the trajectory during the flight. By considering a re-optimization of the trajectory during the flight they further support air traffic control towards achieving precise air traffic flow management and, in consequence, an increase in airspace and airport capacity. However, the re-optimization leads to an increase in the operator and controller’s task loads which must be balanced with the benefit of the re-optimization. From this follows that operators need a decision support under which circumstances and how often a trajectory re-optimization should be carried out. Local numerical weather service providers issue hourly weather forecasts for the coming hour. Such weather data sets covering three months were used to re-optimize a daily A320 flight from Seattle to New York every hour and to calculate the effects of this re-optimization on fuel consumption and deviation from the filed path. Therefore, a simulation-based trajectory optimization tool was used. Fuel savings between 0.5% and 7% per flight were achieved despite minor differences in wind speed between two consecutive weather forecasts in the order of 0.5 m s−1. The calculated lateral deviations from the filed path within 1 nautical mile were always very small. Thus, the method could be easily implemented in current flight operations. The developed performance indicators could help operators to evaluate the re-optimization and to initiate its activation as a new flight plan accordingly.

scholarly journals Weather events in air traffic control standards and communication: discourse patterns and implications for language teaching and assessment / Eventos meteorológicos em normas e comunicações de controle de tráfego aéreo: padrões discursivos e implicações para o ensino e a avaliação de línguas

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 1443
Author(s):  
Rafaela Rigaud Peixoto ◽  
Patrícia Tosqui-Lucks
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Air Traffic Control ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Impact

Abstract: Weather events affect air traffic control (ATC) in many ways, for there are many situations that need to be reported in pilot-controller communication. This paper attempts to analyze the language used to express the impact of meteorological phenomena to air traffic operations, particularly in regard to aeronautical English, that is, the communication used during radiotelephony by air traffic controllers in training situations. For that, two types of analyses will be carried out: one regarding the formulaic structure of lexical units using 11 Aeronautical Meteorology terms within the ATC context (phase 1); and another one concerning the use of these terms by students in three ATC courses (for TWR, ACC and APP facilities) and how it affects their performance during communication activities in a learning environment (phase 2). These analyses will be based on rationales of lexical semantics for terminology; corpus linguistics (CL), comprising English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and learner corpora; and considerations about vocabulary assessment on aeronautical English exams. Results suggest that terminological patterns discussed in this paper show how meaning is dependent on context, and how lexical semantic analysis of terms may contribute to reveal nuances of language used in a specialized context. In this way, it indicates courses have been efficient in teaching and practicing the use of the main meteorological terms related to aeronautical English and that, despite some mistakes students make, evidence points out that they are able to report weather conditions to pilots and to understand pilots’ requests in a proficient level concerning vocabulary.Keywords: meteorology; aeronautical English; terminology; learner corpus; language assessment.Resumo: Eventos meteorológicos afetam o controle de tráfego aéreo (ATC) de diversas formas, dado que muitas situações precisam ser reportadas na comunicação entre piloto e controlador. Este artigo pretende analisar a linguagem utilizada para expressar o impacto de fenômenos meteorológicos para operações ATC, particularmente quanto ao uso de inglês aeronáutico, ou seja, a comunicação utilizada durante a radiotelefonia, por controladores em situações de aprendizagem. Para isso, duas análises foram realizadas: em relação à estrutura formulaica de unidades lexicais contendo 11 termos de Meteorologia Aeronáutica no contexto ATC (fase 1); e quanto ao uso desses termos por alunos de três cursos ATC (para os órgãos operacionais TWR, ACC e APP) e como isso afeta seu desempenho durante as atividades de comunicação em um ambiente de aprendizagem (fase 2). Essas análises serão fundamentadas nas teorias de semântica lexical para terminologia; linguística de corpus (LC), compreendendo Inglês para Fins Específicos (ESP) e corpora de aprendizes; e considerações sobre avaliação de vocabulário em exames de proficiência de inglês aeronáutico. Os resultados sugerem que os padrões terminológicos discutidos mostram como os significados dependem do contexto, e como a análise léxico-semântica de termos pode contribuir para revelar nuances da linguagem utilizada em contexto especializado. Desta forma, demonstrou-se que os cursos foram eficientes no ensino e na prática do uso dos principais termos meteorológicos e que, apesar de alguns erros cometidos, as evidências apontam que os estudantes foram capazes de reportar condições meteorológicas e compreender as solicitações dos pilotos com nível de proficiência adequado em relação a vocabulário.Palavras-chave: meteorologia; inglês aeronáutico; terminologia; corpus de aprendizes; avaliação de línguas.

scholarly journals Simulation Model to Calculate Bird-Aircraft Collisions and Near Misses in the Airport Vicinity

Aerospace ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Isabel Metz ◽  
Thorsten Mühlhausen ◽  
Joost Ellerbroek ◽  
Dirk Kügler ◽  
Hans van Gasteren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Management ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Fast Time ◽  
Bird Strike ◽  
Near Misses ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Traffic Volumes ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Annually, thousands of birds collide with aircraft. The impact usually has lethal consequences for the bird, the involved aircraft can experience severe damage. The highest bird strike risk occurs at low altitudes. Therefore, aircraft within the airport area as well as the adjacent approach and departure corridors are especially vulnerable to collisions with birds. To analyse risk-reducing measures in these areas, a fast-time bird strike simulation environment was developed. An open-source Air Traffic Management simulator was enhanced with a model to represent bird movements and to recognize bird strikes. To confirm the reproducibility of the outcome, Monte Carlo simulations were performed. They included bird movement data from one year and air traffic flight plans for various air traffic volumes. The number of strikes and near misses showed an expected variance within the individual replications. The results indicate that the predictability of the number of strikes and near misses increases with rising number of birds, and rising air traffic intensity. Thus, by considering simulation scenarios including bird movement information from all seasons and a sufficient air traffic volume, the described set-up leads to stable results.

A Simulation Environment for Analyzing the Impact of Volcanic Ash on Trajectory-Based Air Traffic Management

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Schmitt ◽  
Ruzica Vujasinovic ◽  
Christiane Edinger ◽  
Julia Zillies ◽  
Vilmar Mollwitz
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Management ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Air Traffic Management ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Simulation Environment ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Flight Simulator’s Energy Consumption Depending on the Conditions of the Air Operation

Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 580
Author(s):  
Michał Gołębiewski ◽  
Marta Galant-Gołębiewska ◽  
Remigiusz Jasiński
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Motion Platform ◽  
Simulator Motion ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Protection of the natural environment is a key activity driving development in the transport discipline today. The use of simulators to train civil aviation pilots provides an excellent opportunity to maintain the balance between efficiency and limit the negative impact of transport on the environment. Therefore, we decided to determine the impact of selected simulations of air operations on energy consumption. The aim of the research was to determine the energy consumption of the flight simulator depending on the type of flight operation and configuration used. We also decided to compare the obtained result with the energy consumption of an aircraft of a similar class, performing a similar aviation operation and other means of transport. In order to obtain the results, a research plan was proposed consisting of 12 scenarios differing in the simulated aircraft model, weather conditions and the use of the simulator motion platform. In each of the scenarios, energy consumption was measured, taking into account the individual components of the simulator. The research showed that the use of a flight simulator has a much smaller negative impact on the natural environment than flying in a traditional plane. Use of a motion platform indicated a change in energy consumption of approximately 40% (in general, flight simulator configuration can change energy consumption by up to 50%). The deterioration of weather conditions during the simulation caused an increase in energy consumption of 14% when motion was disabled and 18% when motion was enabled. Energy consumption in the initial stages of pilot training can be reduced by 97% by using flight simulators compared to aircraft training.

scholarly journals The Impact of Customer Contact on Collective Human Energy in Firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 915-952
Author(s):  
Petra Kipfelsberger ◽  
Heike Bruch ◽  
Dennis Herhausen
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Customer Contact ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Moderated Mediation Model ◽  
Human Energy ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

This article investigates how and when a firm’s level of customer contact influences the collective organizational energy. For this purpose, we bridge the literature on collective human energy at work with the job impact framework and organizational sensemaking processes and argue that a firm’s level of customer contact is positively linked to the collective organizational energy because a high level of customer contact might make the experience of prosocial impact across the firm more likely. However, as prior research at the individual level has indicated that customers could also deplete employees’ energy, we introduce transformational leadership climate as a novel contingency factor for this linkage at the organizational level. We propose that a medium to high transformational leadership climate is necessary to derive positive meaning from customer contact, whereas firms with a low transformational leadership climate do not get energized by customer contact. We tested the proposed moderated mediation model with multilevel modeling and a multisource data set comprising 9,094 employees and 75 key informants in 75 firms. The results support our hypotheses and offer important theoretical contributions for research on collective human energy in organizations and its interplay with customers.

scholarly journals Impacts of Microclimate Conditions on the Energy Performance of Buildings in Urban Areas

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javanroodi ◽  
M.Nik
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
Microclimate Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Urbanization trends have changed the morphology of cities in the past decades. Complex urban areas with wide variations in built density, layout typology, and architectural form have resulted in more complicated microclimate conditions. Microclimate conditions affect the energy performance of buildings and bioclimatic design strategies as well as a high number of engineering applications. However, commercial energy simulation engines that utilize widely-available mesoscale weather data tend to underestimate these impacts. These weather files, which represent typical weather conditions at a location, are mostly based on long-term metrological observations and fail to consider extreme conditions in their calculation. This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of hourly microclimate data in typical and extreme climate conditions on the energy performance of an office building in two different urban areas. Results showed that the urban morphology can reduce the wind speed by 27% and amplify air temperature by more than 14%. Using microclimate data, the calculated outside surface temperature, operating temperature and total energy demand of buildings were notably different to those obtained using typical regional climate model (RCM)–climate data or available weather files (Typical Meteorological Year or TMY), i.e., by 61%, 7%, and 21%, respectively. The difference in the hourly peak demand during extreme weather conditions was around 13%. The impact of urban density and the final height of buildings on the results are discussed at the end of the paper.

scholarly journals In-Flight Aircraft Trajectory Optimization within Corridors Defined by Ensemble Weather Forecasts

Aerospace ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lindner ◽  
Judith Rosenow ◽  
Thomas Zeh ◽  
Hartmut Fricke
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Trajectory Optimization ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Parameter Uncertainties ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Fuel Savings ◽  
Flight Plan ◽  
Aircraft Trajectory

Today, each flight is filed as a static route not later than one hour before departure. From there on, changes of the lateral route initiated by the pilot are only possible with air traffic control clearance and in the minority. Thus, the initially optimized trajectory of the flight plan is flown, although the optimization may already be based upon outdated weather data at take-off. Global weather data as those modeled by the Global Forecast System do, however, contain hints on forecast uncertainties itself, which is quantified by considering so-called ensemble forecast data. In this study, the variability in these weather parameter uncertainties is analyzed, before the trajectory optimization model TOMATO is applied to single trajectories considering the previously quantified uncertainties. TOMATO generates, based on the set of input data as provided by the ensembles, a 3D corridor encasing all resulting optimized trajectories. Assuming that this corridor is filed in addition to the initial flight plan, the optimum trajectory can be updated even during flight, as soon as updated weather forecasts are available. In return and as a compromise, flights would have to stay within the corridor to provide planning stability for Air Traffic Management compared to full free in-flight optimization. Although the corridor restricts the re-optimized trajectory, fuel savings of up to 1.1%, compared to the initially filed flight, could be shown.

Simple Models for Airport Delays During Transition to a Trajectory-Based Air Traffic System

2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Brooker
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Queuing Theory ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Paradigm Shifts ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Operational Feature ◽  
The Impact

It is now widely recognised that a paradigm shift in air traffic control concepts is needed. This requires state-of-the-art innovative technologies, making much better use of the information in the air traffic management (ATM) system. These paradigm shifts go under the names of NextGen in the USA and SESAR in Europe, which inter alia will make dramatic changes to the nature of airport operations. A vital part of moving from an existing system to a new paradigm is the operational implications of the transition process. There would be business incentives for early aircraft fitment, it is generally safer to introduce new technologies gradually, and researchers are already proposing potential transition steps to the new system. Simple queuing theory models are used to establish rough quantitative estimates of the impact of the transition to a more efficient time-based – four-dimensional (4D) – navigational and ATM system. Such models are approximate, but they do offer insight into the broad implications of system change and its significant features. 4D-equipped aircraft in essence have a contract with the airport runway – they would be required to turn up at a very precise time – and, in return, they would get priority over any other aircraft waiting for use of the runway. The main operational feature examined here is the queuing delays affecting non-4D-equipped arrivals. These get a reasonable service if the proportion of 4D-equipped aircraft is low, but this can deteriorate markedly for high proportions, and be economically unviable. Preventative measures would be to limit the additional growth of 4D-equipped flights and/or to modify their contracts to provide sufficient space for the non-4D-equipped flights to operate without excessive delays. There is a potential for non-Poisson models, for which there is little in the literature, and for more complex models, e.g. grouping a succession of 4D-equipped aircraft as a batch.

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