Future Flight A Review of the Small Aircraft Transportation System Concept -- Special Report 263 (2002) / Chapter Skim
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1 - Study Overview and Aims
1 - Study Overview and Aims
Pages 5-19
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From page 5... ...
As a key part of its SATS concept, NASA envisions small aircraft being flown between small airports in currently lightly used airspace to provide an increas ingly larger share of the nation's intercity personal and business travel. The approach taken in this study to examine the SATS concept vision and the 5-year program to advance it are then described.
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From page 6... ...
• Reduce oxides of nitrogen emissions of future aircraft by 70 percent within 10 years and by 80 percent within 25 years, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions of future aircraft by 25 percent and by 50 percent in the same time frames. • Reduce the perceived noise levels of future aircraft by a factor of 2 (10 decibels)
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From page 7... ...
Nearly all the coun try's large civilian jets are operated by commercial airlines, which provide for-hire passenger and freight transport services. Aircraft used for all other purposes -- such as recreational flying and corporate jet travel -- are classed as GA.
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From page 8... ...
Composed mostly of GA aircraft manufacturers, the task force noted that NASA had long worked with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) , other public agencies, and private industry and universities to meet civil aviation needs -- for instance, by seeking to enhance aviation safety, reduce aircraft noise, and increase the capacity of the airspace sys tem.
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From page 9... ...
AGATE planning documents6 describe the following key goals that would need to be achieved for advanced small aircraft to become practical and popular for use in personal and business transportation: • Safety rates comparable with those of commercial airlines, • Portal-to-portal costs and times per trip that are competitive with those of cars and airlines for mid-range travel, • Operational reliability similar to that of cars, • Availability in low-visibility conditions through the GA infrastructure, • Complexity of operations and time and cost to achieve operator proficiency that are commensurate with a cross section of user abilities and needs, and • Features that increase the comfort of travel to a level comparable with travel by automobile and airline. Recognizing that two 5-year R&D programs focused primarily on vehicle tech nologies could make only limited progress toward such far-reaching goals, NASA and other AGATE and GAP participants began discussing ways to further the SATS con cept and build acceptance by FAA, the broader GA community, and state and local transportation officials.
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From page 10... ...
These capa bilities are: high-volume operations at airports without control towers or terminal radar facilities; lower adverse weather landing minimums at min imally equipped landing facilities; integration of SATS aircraft into a higher en route capacity air traffic control system with complex flows and slower aircraft; and improved single-pilot ability to function competently in complex airspace in an evolving NAS.8 Congress further directed NASA to undertake the program in a collaborative manner by encouraging industry and university teams to compete for awards by involving FAA aircraft certification, flight standards, air traffic, and airport person nel in planning the evaluations. It noted that NASA will "develop and operationally evaluate these four capabilities in a five-year program [with subsequent funds to be considered in future appropriation legislation]
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From page 11... ...
Aircraft will require neither ground-based navigation aids nor approach lighting. • Aircraft operations will be contained within existing airport terminal areas and protection and noise exposure zones.
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From page 12... ...
Ten of the respondents were selected for further study and shown a video of the SATS concept that both explained and empha sized its positive aspects, while pointing out the problems associated with existing transportation options. The respondents were then asked to judge their potential use of a new small aircraft transportation system and their will ingness to pay for it.
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From page 13... ...
Systems that employ the Global Positioning System are already being deployed that offer such capabilities, but mainly for skilled, professional pilots operating advanced aircraft at large airports. For GA pilots with more limited skills, the emergence of additional technologies that offer the ability to access more airports under more weather conditions -- and be assured of this access -- 9 The information in this section is derived from the SATS Program Plan, Version 8.
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From page 14... ...
Show, through analysis, that opera- Show, through analysis, the potential 4. En route proce- It is not currently possible to analyze tions enabled by SATS technologies impact of operations enabled by SATS dures and systems the impact of operations enabled by have no negative impact on higher en technologies on higher en route air traffic for integrated SATS technologies on higher en route route air traffic flows or terminal air- flows and terminal airspace operations in fleet operations air traffic flows or terminal airspace space operations in the current NAS the current NAS operations in the current NAS NOTE: ATC = air traffic controllers; IMC = instrument meteorological conditions; VFR = visual flight rules.
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From page 15... ...
Another development project will focus on automated flight path management technologies that can make small airports easier, safer, and more reliable to use by enabling collaborative sequencing and self-separation of aircraft and conflict detection. Candidate technologies for the two projects include • Self-separation and collaborative sequencing algorithms -- software that allows pilots and avionics to maintain appropriate separation without controller direction; • Highway-in-the-sky guidance -- graphical depictions of flight path guidance for en route and terminal procedures that are intuitive to pilots; • Emergency automated landing controls -- computer-based flight control sys tems for fail-safe recovery of aircraft and occupants following pilot incapacitation or other emergency situations; and • Software-enabled controls -- simplified flight controls and autopilot functions integrated in graphical displays that reduce the complexity of controlling aircraft attitudes, power settings, and rates of motion, while also providing limited flight path control and compliance with clearances that ensure traffic separation.
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From page 16... ...
These studies, scheduled for completion in the final year of the program, will exam ine the economic viability, market potential, environmental impacts, and community acceptance of a small aircraft transportation system. The results will be used to iden tify changes needed in regulations, certification procedures, and airport and airspace design to enable the SATS concept.
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From page 17... ...
Indeed, a stated goal of the program is to "provide the technical and economic basis for national investment and policy decisions to develop a small aircraft trans portation system," including the "coalescing of private sector segments into SATS architectures" and "the coalescing of state authorities to support and advocate imple mentation of SATS technologies."12 An important reason for taking a closer look at the merits of the SATS vision is the influence of the vision on the NASA GA technology program. Another important reason, however, is that in promoting the SATS outcome NASA anticipates large pub lic benefits -- benefits that are not self-evident and that warrant more careful consid eration.
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From page 18... ...
While specific advances in technology cannot be predicted with certainty, the overall magnitude of the technological challenge ahead for the emergence of SATS can be surmised, given what is understood about the factors influencing the nature and pace of technology development and deployment in the air transportation sector. Like wise, it is possible to gain an understanding of the practical challenges facing the sys tem by examining such factors as the number, condition, and location of small airports and their ability to accommodate SATS operations and attract large numbers of users.
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From page 19... ...
The study committee's analyses of the SATS concept's plausibility and desir ability are described in Chapter 4. Consideration is given to the probability of NASA's SATS vision emerging in light of what is known about (a)
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