Nasa Research for Instrument Approaches to Closely Spaced Parallel Runways

Within the NASA Aviation Systems Capacity Program, the Terminal Area Productivity (TAP) Project is addressing airport capacity enhancements during instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The Airborne Information for Lateral Spacing (AILS) research within TAP has focused on an airborne centered approach for independent instrument approaches to closely spaced parallel runways using Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technologies. NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), working in partnership with Honeywell, Inc., completed an AILS simulation study, flight test, and demonstration in 1999 examining normal approaches and potential collision scenarios to runways with separation distances of 3,400 and 2,500 feet. The results of the flight test and demonstration validate the simulation study. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast AILS Airborne Information for Lateral Spacing CSPA Closely Spaced Parallel Approach DGPS Differential Global Positioning System EADI Electronic Attitude Director Indicator EEM Emergency Escape Maneuver IFD Integrated Flight Deck ILS Instrument Landing System IMC Instrument Meteorological Conditions LaRC Langley Research Center MANOVA Multivariate Analysis of Variance * Manager, Reduced Spacing Operations, Associate Fellow, AIAA