Evaluation of potential near-term operational changes and environmental trend and benefit analysis of RNAV/RNP operational procedures

It is becoming increasingly necessary to understand and mitigate the environmental impacts of aviation. Changing aircraft operational procedures is one strategy that could be used to mitigate environmental impacts of aviation in relatively short timeframes with existing aircraft types. This thesis is divided into two parts. Part I undertakes a broader qualitative analysis; a comprehensive identification of the potential near-term operational changes and their relative environmental impact. Part II focuses on the current trends and a quantitative assessment of the potential environmental benefits of RNAV/RNP procedures, one of the promising mitigations identified in part 1. Both of the above approaches also discuss other factors such as possible barriers to implementation and provide valuable information that contributes positively towards possible implementation of near-term operational changes to mitigate environmental impacts of aviation. RNAV/RNP procedures are important because they have the potential to not only improve safety and increase access to high terrain airports, but also to increase the number of efficient and precise trajectories and allow shorter path lengths, offering potential fuel burn savings. Further, precise and repeatable RNAV/RNP procedures offer potential noise benefits by limiting the number of people flown over (though this is traded against the increased exposure of populations under the precision flight track), or by ensuring flight tracks are over unpopulated areas, such as rivers. Seattle Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) 2010 flight data was collected and used to perform the first order noise, fuel burn and emissions analysis. The FAAs Integrated Noise Model (INM) was used for the noise analysis. A combination of the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) and SAE-AIR 1945 coefficients and equations, Boeing Method 2 (BM2), and specific flight performance information obtained from the INM output was used for the fuel burn and emissions calculations. Results showed a maximum reduction of 67 percent in the number of people exposed to 55 DNL and above, and a maximum fuel burn and emissions reduction of 40 percent when compared to conventional approach, given a 100 percent optimized RNAV/RNP operations for a homogenous NextGen 737 fleet. This corresponds to a total amount of 10 million gallons of fuel and 235 Million pounds CO 2 saved annually. There are a number of barriers to RNAV/RNP implementation that must be addressed before a system wide implementation of RNAV/RNP procedures will be possible. The results could provide information to help stakeholders compare potential operations and aid in future decision-making. The thesis is wrapped up with suggestions on potential future work and other interesting study areas