TWO STUDIES OF PAIRED APPROACHES

At airports with closely-spaced parallel runways, the inability to conduct simultaneous approaches in all weather conditions is a cause of significant delay. One concept for reducing delay is paired approaches, where two airc raft on closely spaced approaches are ‘paired’, and the ‘trail ’ aircraft stays within a safe zone relative to the ‘lead’. This positioning guarantees that neither aircraft risks loss of separation and that neither aircraft will be affected by the other’s wake. This operation is being investigated through two studies. The first documents how the safe zone may be calculated and explores its size, location and movement in response to operational factors. The second study is a piloted simulator evaluation of cockpit display and procedural issues