Approaching an airport runway is a significant task for pilots: lowering speed, extending flaps and speed brakes, and much more all while making as little noise and using as little fuel as possible. Furthermore, air traffic management limits the approach profile, and weather conditions are sometimes simply hazy. In brief, in addition to wind and other conditions, the flight crew's abilities play an important role in deciding how effectively an approach fits all of these requirements. The DYNCAT project, directed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), intends to enhance this process by enabling ecologically benign and more uniform flight profiles. Particularly during the approach, by assisting pilots in properly configuring the airplane and landing in a fuel-efficient manner.
This entails dispersing the jet's potential and kinetic energy via aerodynamic drag, which may be controlled by the airplane's design. Ideally, this entails an approach without raising power, which would add energy to the airplane by consuming more fuel and causing more noise. As part of the project, the team created new onboard system functionalities that provide advice to pilots during the approach, which they may then choose to follow or ignore. These include improved flap and landing gear settings to decrease noise and fuel consumption, as well as fine-tuned responses to the complex interaction of all elements and needs. Simulator flights with experienced pilots were undertaken at the Thales aviation company in Toulouse to demonstrate the capabilities of these services to minimize noise and CO2 emissions.
Zurich Airport, runway 14 is the approach objective. The air traffic controller told the pilots in the specified circumstance to take a lateral shortcut during the descent, which causes the airplane to enter an over-energy position. This implies it has a lot of potential and kinetic energy that needs to be dissipated during the landing approach without making too much noise or burning too much fuel. This is an especially tough circumstance for pilots, in which several options are feasible. In a video (see below), researchers from Empa's Laboratory for Acoustics / Noise Control demonstrated the impacts of the help system: It depicts the acoustic impact of two comparable flights, one with DYNCAT aid and one without. Empa's aircraft noise model sonAIR estimated the noise level of the two flights on the ground, measuring the benefits of the new technology.
In general, the simulations and calculations revealed that DYNCAT-based techniques are quieter and use less gasoline. The "DYNCAT flight" spent 55 kg less fuel from the start of the fall and was up to four dB quieter a significant alleviation in the case of the two variations in the video. Despite high expectations for environmentally responsible and low-noise flying, some of which are conflicting, DYNCAT enabled both aims to be met more successfully.