Theoretical and operational aspects of optimal airport arrival trajectories

The thesis considers the trajectories that are used to guide aircraft from en-route flight to an airport. Although there is currently some room to adapt the trajectories to a specific situation, they are usually largely based on published standardised trajectories. In this study the potential of optimising the arrival trajectories using data about the current situation is investigated. A trajectory scheduling algorithm based on a multi-objective genetic optimisation algorithm is developed. Fast-time simulations are carried out for traffic arriving at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It is shown that optimising the arrival trajectories can increase throughput and has the potential of reducing impact on the environment significantly. Optimising the arrival trajectories may have implications for the pilots and air traffic controllers tasks though. It is studied by means of experiments in a flight simulator how the shape of the trajectory influences the task demand load imposed on the pilot. A number of metrics are proposed to describe the task demand load. Off-line analyses using these metrics indicate that task demand load may increase when optimised arrival trajectories are used instead of standard trajectories. It is shown though that recently proposed displays for the flight deck that give 4-D guidance information may help to reduce the task demand load. In addition, the task demand load imposed on air traffic controllers is assessed with metrics describing airspace complexity. Off-line analyses indicate that task demand load for air traffic controllers may increase in case conventional air traffic control is maintained