Enhanced Missed Approach Procedure Based on Aircraft Reinjection

Abstract

One of the most important issues facing both the American and European air traffic management systems will be to provide enough capacity to meet increasing air traffic demand while maintaining a high level of safety. In this work, we focus on the final approach flight phase and, in particular, on the missed approach procedure, which is conducted when unexpected occurrences force the aircrew to abort the landing. The current missed approach consists in recommencing the approach from the initial approach fix and, in some cases, it is just an outbound heading to wait for air traffic control instructions. In this article, we propose and evaluate the performance of a new missed approach procedure supported by current state-of-the-art communication, navigation, and surveillance technology. Our proposal, referred to as aircraft reinjection system, basically consists in identifying a gap in the inbound traffic flow, in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization standards, to reinject the affected aircraft and providing a new route to redirect the aircraft to that mentioned gap. Its evaluation proves that this proposal can achieve important time savings, helping to reduce the use of active runways, with the corresponding positive impact on the environment, noise, and pollution. Furthermore, and more importantly, it may enhance safety levels when the aircrew performs an unstable approach on final since they will be more willing and trained to perform an up-to-date and time-sensitive procedure rather than current old-fashioned ones.