General Information

DYNCAT aims at enabling more environmentally friendly and more predictable flight profiles in the airport vicinity, namely on approach, by supporting the pilots in configuration management.

Approach operations at busy airports are louder and less fuel efficient than they should be. Aircraft need to configure (extend flaps, slats and landing gear) and reduce speed prior to touchdown in an individual process. Air Traffic Control puts restrictions on the flight profile, however, and weather conditions are often only vaguely known. Thus the practical configuration sequence, and hence noise and fuel consumption of an approach depend very much on the pilots’ skills and their access to important information like the actual wind situation.

DYNCAT will analyse the existing mismatch of aircraft and air traffic control procedures and propose improvements to on-board and ground operations. This includes the identification of the possible need for regulatory changes for ATM. The new Flight Management System function investigated in DYNCAT will support pilots in their configuration management during approach so as to better handle ATC restrictions and constraints as well as weather conditions. The project will also assess the ecological and economical potential of improved operations.

Key Messages

• DYNCAT aims to highlight the impact of current (approach) ATM operations in the TMA on environmental pollution, cost effectiveness and safety and to quantify the potential for environmental impact (noise, CO2 emission) reduction through better communication between ATC and the flight deck.
   
• DYNCAT will set a course for approach flight profiles that are more environmentally friendly, easier to fly and more predictable through novel pilot support functions for configuration management.
   
• DYNCAT aims to derive measures to be implemented in short term (mainly on-board procedures) and mid-term (mainly new on-board system functionalities), identify the necessary enablers such as new technological functions (supportive tools, data exchange) and regulatory changes to allow improved airborne procedures.

This project has received funding from the SESAR Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 893568.