Accurate taxi time prediction is required for enabling efficient runway scheduling that can increase runway throughput and reduce taxi times and fuel consumptions on the airport surface. Currently NASA and American Airlines are jointly developing a decision-support tool called Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) that assists airport ramp controllers to make gate pushback decisions and imp...

A London Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, it has only one runway for use by departing aircraft at any time. Separations are required between each pair of aircraft at take-off—depending on their routes, weights, and speeds—to ensure safety. Efficient scheduling of the aircraft for take-off can reduce the total separations and increase throughput. A runway controller is respo...

The purpose of an aircraft Takeoff Performance Monitoring System (TOPMS) is to provide to the pilot information pertaining to the level of safety with which a takeoff is proceeding. The authors have developed a theoretical dynamic model to investigate the feasibility of using an observer system during the roll and takeoff phases of aircraft operation to provide to the pilot the information that...

BACKGROUND Orbiter landing data show decrements in pilot performance following spaceflight compared to preflight simulated landings. This study aimed to characterize pilot head-eye coordination during simulated orbiter landings, and relate findings to microgravity-related spatial disorientation. METHODS Orbiter landings were simulated in an A340-300 simulator flown by six pilots. Turns about ...

New associations have recently been discovered between arboreal ants that live on myrmecophytic plants, and different groups of fungi. Most of the - usually undescribed - fungi cultured by the ants belong to the order Chaetothyriales (Ascomycetes). Chaetothyriales occur in the nesting spaces provided by the host plant, and form a major part of the cardboard-like material produced by the ants fo...

The automatic detection of runway hazards from a moving platform under poor visibility conditions is a multifaceted problem. The general approach that we use relies on looking at several frames of the video imagery to determine the presence of objects. Since the platform is in motion during the acquisition of these frames, the first step in the process is to correct for platform motion. Extract...

Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) paving of airport runways mostly requires multiple paving teams, multiple pavers, and a wide array of other equipment. The runway paving projects are typically renowned for the logistical effort and the tight margins for overruns, often requiring a relatively large part of the contractor’s resources. Due to the nature of airport operations the projects are of a fast-track ...