Simplified Hazard Areas for Wake Vortex Encounter Avoidance

Abstract

Simplified hazard areas (SHA) can help to master the wake vortex problem. Avoiding these zones allows safe and undisturbed flight operations. The definition of the hazard areas is based on the nominal required roll control power. The limit for this value must be chosen carefully to ensure that outside the hazard area all wake vortex effects are noncritical. In order to identify such a limit offline simulations, full flight simulator studies and in-flight simulations were conducted. The hazard area dimensions for a specific roll control limit are derived with the "Simplified Hazard Area Prediction" method (SHAPe). Parameterization of the input parameters makes this method universally applicable to different aircraft types. SHAPe represents a fundamental element of the wake vortex prediction and observation sys-tem within the interdisciplinary DLR project Wirbelschleppe II, for the generation of safe dynamic wake vortex separations.