Development of fighter aircraft flight procedures for reduced noise impact.

Abstract

Lockheed Martin engineers have recently developed a unique process to rapidly develop realistic and community‐friendly fighter aircraft procedures for use near airports. The process integrates known aircraft performance (takeoff distance, rate of climb, etc.) with community noise estimation tools (Noisemap, INM), allowing rapid calculation of the changes in community noise impact due to proposed changes in flight procedures or the integration of new aircraft. Automated performance calculations capture the effects caused by changes in aircraft weight, external loading, and airfield density altitude. Operational pilots from the airport under study validate each proposed procedure in a realistic flight simulator (with performance matching the actual aircraft). These “flights” ensure that each proposed profile is safe, realistic, and reasonable for that base. The process has been applied to contemporary fighter (F‐16) operations, as well as those for aircraft entering service soon (F‐35). When necessary, the newly developed process can be used to create flight procedures which reduce the aircraft noise impact in nearby communities. Initial studies have demonstrated that the community area significantly impacted by noise (i.e. that within the 65 DNL contour) can be significantly reduced through judicious control of power settings, climb angles, and other flight parameters, without modification of the aircraft.