Design of 4D Landing Approach Trajectories for a Quiet STOL Airplane

Abstract

The advent of new, satellite-based navigation technologies enables the use of 4D trajectories, including precise altitudes and times at all waypoints ahead to touchdown. A better management of arrival times of aircraft at airports will enable the use of shorter, cleaner and quieter trajectories. To affect arrival times without lengthening the ground track, varying glideslope angles can be used. For aircraft equipped with powered lift, the glideslope angle has an impact on achievable landing speeds. Landing approach performance parameters such as possible flight path angles or minimum airspeeds are calculated for an aircraft with upper surface blowing. These are used to simulate landing approaches using different glideslope angles. Flight durations and noise level contour areas are compared for different glideslope angles. Increasing glideslope angles results in significant reductions of both.