Vicinity Of Airports Research Articles

Forecasting of poor visibility episodes in the vicinity of Tenerife Norte Airport

Aviation safety is a priority that may be compromised by adverse weather conditions. This is the case for poor visibility in the vicinity of airports, which can pose a risk during takeoff and landing. For airports that are prone to fog because of their location, an accurate forecast of poor-visibility episodes is vital. However, the forecasting of low clouds is still a challenge in numerical weather prediction, especially when an airport is near complex terrain for which the use of non-hydrostatic mesoscale models is mandatory. All these factors are present at Tenerife Norte Airport, which is commonly affected by poor visibility from low clouds related to persistent trade winds and moist flows from the Atlantic Ocean.In this paper, several methods for estimating visibility based on mesoscale model outputs are tested. Use of the HARMONIE-AROME model is encouraged because of its excellent performance in the detection of poor-visibility episodes (False Alarm Ratio = 0.34–0.38; Frequency Of Misses = 0.22–0.38, depending on the model version and method used). In addition, the use of satellite application facilities is proposed for the nowcasting of low clouds affecting the airport area. Specifically, we used products that estimate cloud type, cloud top altitude, and integrated water vapor content in the boundary layer. Finally, an application is presented for the monitoring of weather conditions in real time to estimate poor-visibility risk.

Management of Aircraft Noise to Increase Ecological Compatibility of Residential Areas

Development of air transport branch has been inevitably accompanied by environmental pollution. Using international approach, methodology assessing environmental risks from civil aviation, has been permanently enhanced. The purpose of the investigation is to decrease negative environmental effect of aircraft noise on population of the urban areas in the vicinity of airports. Within the balanced approach to management of the aircraft noise, field surveys of noise environment were performed on the residential areas adjacent to the Elizovo International Airport (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski). Emergence of piston engine aviation has been the main factor of adverse effect on humans and their habitat. Initially the issue was limited by the noise generated by propellers. When reactive era came to the scene, though, and aero-gas dynamic flows within the powerplants, and aerodynamic noise from airframe overflow became the main sources of noise, subsequences of aircraft noise came to be the matter of concern for wide range of specialists. The need to increase capability of aircraft and their speed lead to augmentation of the powerplants thrust, and, as a result, the sound power generated by aircraft rapidly grew. And the severity of the issue has been growing on with the development of aviation, enhancement of international air fleet and flying intensity. As a rule, the airports are located either within cities, or directly in the residential areas which generates extremely unfavourable acoustic conditions for residential population and reduces quality of life. At the present a set of operations to assess noise conditions is carried out in the vicinity of the major airports of the world. It has been established that the localities within a radius of 5-10 km under the aircraft routes are systematically subject to high levels of aircraft wide-band noise with maximal acoustic energy within 63-1,000 Hz. Based on the performed assessment of the noise environment, a foundation was issued to use the most efficient architectural and construction anti-noise actions, in order to obtain maximal ecological benefits.

Fog and its occurrence at the Žilina Airport

Over the past few years, the air transport has developed rapidly and the traveling from continent to continent has increased. But this great development puts higher demands on a transport safety. Meteorology and its conditions are therefore becoming an important part of flight planning. But dangerous weather phenomena can cause problems in our efforts. Fog is a dangerous weather phenomenon that can occur throughout the year. Especially in the vicinity of airports, its occurrence may very quickly change the conditions which affects safety and fluency of air transport. However, there are certain weather situations when fog is more likely to occur. In order to create a mist in a given location, we need to have certain conditions fulfilled in the atmosphere within the a given area. One of the conditions needed for mist or fog to create, is increased presence of water vapor. Since there is a water reservoir near the airport in Žilina, it was assumed that the formation of fog, its duration and abundance was also affected by the nearby water reservoir. The article deals with the analysis of fog occurrence at the airport in Žilina just at the time when the tank was released. The article shows the effect of the reservoir on the occurrence of fog during the period when the reservoir was full but also empty.

Effects of Aircraft Noise Exposure on Heart Rate during Sleep in the Population Living Near Airports.

Background Noise in the vicinity of airports is a public health problem. Many laboratory studies have shown that heart rate is altered during sleep after exposure to road or railway noise. Fewer studies have looked at the effects of exposure to aircraft noise on heart rate during sleep in populations living near airports. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the sound pressure level (SPL) of aircraft noise and heart rate during sleep in populations living near airports in France. Methods In total, 92 people living near the Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Toulouse-Blagnac airports participated in this study. Heart rate was recorded every 15 s during one night, using an Actiheart monitor, with simultaneous measurements of SPL of aircraft noise inside the participants’ bedrooms. Energy and event-related indicators were then estimated. Mixed linear regression models were applied, taking into account potential confounding factors, to investigate the relationship between energy indicators and heart rate during sleep measured every 15 s. Event-related analyses were also carried out in order to study the effects of an acoustic event associated with aircraft noise on heart rate during sleep. Results The more the SPL from all sources (LAeq,15s) and the SPL exceeded for 90% of the measurement period (LA90,15s) increased, the more heart rate also increased. No significant associations were observed between the maximum 1-s equivalent SPL associated with aircraft overflight (LAmax,1s) and differences between the heart rate recorded during or 15 or 30 s after an aircraft noise event and that recorded before the event. On the other hand, a positive and significant association was found between LAmax,1s and the heart rate amplitude calculated during an aircraft noise event. Results were unchanged when analyses were limited to participants who had lived more than five years in their present dwelling. Conclusion Our study shows that exposure to the maximum SPL linked to aircraft overflight affect the heart rate during sleep of residents near airports. However, further studies on a larger number of participants over several nights are needed to confirm these results.

Collision between a migrating lesser spotted eagle (Clanga pomarina) and an aircraft as detailed by fine-scale GSM-GPS telemetry data

Abstract We tracked a breeding adult female lesser spotted eagle (Clanga pomarina) from Germany using GPS technology, and provide details of her collision with a small aircraft at Rzeszów (SE Poland) during April 2016, when she was migrating towards her breeding territory. The ultimate fate of the bird was not established until the tag was found by chance and the data were recovered. Bird strikes are a global problem with sometimes lethal consequences for animals and people. This account highlights the way technology allows us to closely monitor events during bird migration, and document human-raptor interactions. The collision illustrates how food availability might affect bird-strike risk, and indicates that removing animal carcasses from the vicinity of airports could reduce that risk. We discuss the data in relation to risks faced by lesser spotted eagles (and other soaring birds) of collision with aircraft, especially along flyways during migration seasons.

The impact of aircraft noise exposure on objective parameters of sleep quality: results of the DEBATS study in France

BackgroundNoise in the vicinity of airports is a public health issue. Exposure to aircraft noise has been shown to have adverse effects on health and particularly on sleep. Many studies support the hypothesis that noise at night can affect subjective sleep quality. Fewer studies, however, have performed objective measurements of sleep. ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate by actigraphy the relationship between aircraft noise exposure and objective parameters of sleep quality in the population living near two French airports. MethodsThis study includes 112 participants living in the vicinity of Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Toulouse-Blagnac airports. Wrist actigraphy measurements were performed during eight nights to evaluate objective parameters of sleep quality such as sleep onset latency (SOL), wake after sleep onset (WASO), total sleep time (TST), time in bed (TB) and sleep efficiency (SE). Acoustic measurements were made simultaneously both inside the participants' bedrooms and outside (at the exterior frontage) to estimate aircraft noise levels. Energy indicators related to the sound energetic average for a given period of time, as well as indicators related to noise events (eg, the number of events that exceed a given threshold), were estimated. Logistic and linear regression models were used, taking into account potential confounders: age; gender; marital status; education; and body mass index (BMI). ResultsEnergy indicators, in particular, indicators related to noise events were significantly associated with objective parameters of sleep quality. Increased levels of aircraft noise and increased numbers of aircraft noise events increased the time required for sleep onset (SOL) and the total wake time after sleep onset (WASO) and decreased sleep efficiency (SE). An association was also observed between aircraft noise exposure and an increase in total sleep time (TST) and time in bed (TB). ConclusionThe findings of the present study contribute to the overall evidence suggesting that nocturnal aircraft noise exposure may decrease the objective quality of sleep. Aircraft noise exposure affects objective parameters of sleep quality, not only regarding noise levels but also regarding the number of events. Mechanisms for adapting to sleep deprivation could be observed.

Simulation Model to Calculate Bird-Aircraft Collisions and Near Misses in the Airport Vicinity

Annually, thousands of birds collide with aircraft. The impact usually has lethal consequences for the bird, the involved aircraft can experience severe damage. The highest bird strike risk occurs at low altitudes. Therefore, aircraft within the airport area as well as the adjacent approach and departure corridors are especially vulnerable to collisions with birds. To analyse risk-reducing measures in these areas, a fast-time bird strike simulation environment was developed. An open-source Air Traffic Management simulator was enhanced with a model to represent bird movements and to recognize bird strikes. To confirm the reproducibility of the outcome, Monte Carlo simulations were performed. They included bird movement data from one year and air traffic flight plans for various air traffic volumes. The number of strikes and near misses showed an expected variance within the individual replications. The results indicate that the predictability of the number of strikes and near misses increases with rising number of birds, and rising air traffic intensity. Thus, by considering simulation scenarios including bird movement information from all seasons and a sufficient air traffic volume, the described set-up leads to stable results.

Separation Minima for Continuous Climb Operations

Air transport planning takes new technologies, strategies, and procedures into consideration when optimizing both trajectory and air traffic management. Continuous Climb operations (CCO) are new optimal departing trajectories that minimize fuel consumption, emissions, and noise levels within the vicinity of airports. In contrast with previous research, this paper does not focus on the optimization techniques of these procedures but on the estimation of novel separation minima. First, the authors present the CCO model: climbing structure, operational concept, and simulations. Second, Monte Carlo simulations are performed to obtain a large, statistically significant sample. The uncertainty of CCO trajectories is modeled taking several factors into account, such as aircraft type, mass, speed, positioning error, temperature, and wind. Mass is the factor that adds most uncertainty to climbing trajectories. Afterward, the authors develop a conflict-resolution algorithm to perform systematic analysis of separation minima. This algorithm has two goals: 1) to ensure that separation minima between aircraft pairs performing CCO are not violated throughout the departure, and 2) to dynamically calculate the on-ground separation between CCO. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that an attempt has been made to quantify CCO separation minima. The results of the simulation confirm that the new CCO separation minima are larger than standard separation minima.

VOC tracers from aircraft activities at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport

This is the first study to assess the speciation of 48 VOCs from around 100 commercial aircraft under real operation, as close as possible to aircraft engines during the various modes of the landing/takeoff (LTO) cycles to identify special aircraft fingerprints and markers. Also, Jet A-1 kerosene vapor, gasoline exhaust, and the ambient airport concentrations were assessed. Air samples were taken at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport inside adsorbent tubes using a portable automatic remote sampler and analyzed using gas chromatographic techniques (GC-MS and GC-FID). Results showed that heavy alkanes (C8-C14, mainly n-nonane and n-decane), which contributed to about 51–64% of the total mass of heavy VOCs emitted by aircraft, and heavy aldehydes (nonanal and decanal) – although to a lesser amount – can be considered as potential tracers for aircraft emissions due to both their exclusive presence in aircraft-related emissions and their absence from gasoline exhaust emissions. On the other hand, the total concentration of heavy alkanes in the airport's ambient air was 47% of the total mass of heavy VOCs measured. No aircraft tracer was identified among the light VOCs (≤C7); however, results showed that emissions of light VOCs decrease as the engine power increases. Also, auxiliary power unit (APU) emissions were identified to be of the same order of magnitude as main engine emissions. This study opens the door for future studies aiming at evaluating the impact of airport activities on air quality and human health within or away from the airport vicinity.

Modeling fair air traffic assignment in the vicinity of airports

Aircraft noise is recognized as a serious environmental concern and creates significant political problems. This paper presents a new mathematical model to deal with the aircraft noise in the vicinity of airports. The problem to be solved is defined as an assignment of aircraft operations over the routes in order to minimize the total annoyance to citizens at the same time as respecting a fairness scheme. A social-welfare perspective on the noise distribution problem is taken, in contrast to more traditional acoustics-based approaches.Starting from the so-called α-fairness Social Welfare Function (SWF) used for maximization problems, we have defined a new α-fairness function for minimization problems. We show that this function has similar properties to the maximization α-fairness SWF. Analytic results (optimal air traffic assignment, bounds for the Price of Fairness) are provided for the basic case i.e. when routes do not intersect. For more complex cases, when routes cross each others, we show, using a case study (the Brussels Airports case), that modern solvers are able to solve the problem to optimality for realistic scenarios.The model can be used as a decision support tool for a Central Decision Maker (CDM) to allocate flight operations (take-off and landing) over the routes and establish policies in the vicinity of the airport. The paper also provides insights into understanding the relationship between efficiency and fairness.

ASSESSMENT ON THE LEVEL OF WORKER SATISFACTION ON WELFARE PROVISIONS ON CONSTRUCTION SITES IN GHANA

Construction worker’s efficiency can increase significantly with satisfactory welfare facilities in the area of adequate toilets, washing facilities, places to eat, and storage place for clothing and so on, and these could be the drivers for high output and increase in profit to a firm where and when they are provided. However, these basic requirements are often inadequate and in worst case are neglected at most construction sites. The aim of this research was to assess the level of worker’s satisfaction on welfare provisions for construction sites in Ghana. The objectives set for the study were to evaluate worker’s satisfaction in construction sites with regards to welfare provisions on site. The population sample for this study consisted of all active construction sites at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) vicinity. Eighty (89) copies of the questionnaires were administered to permanent workers (the respondents) in five (5) construction sites with on-going construction activities in this study. Structured questionnaire and the census sampling technique were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze primary data into percentages and frequencies. The study revealed that 69% of construction site workers in Ghana are not satisfied with the level of welfare facilities provided at site by their employers. The researchers discovered that accessibility to welfare facilities, provision of adequate number of welfare facilities, regular maintenance, illumination of space and closeness of welfare facilities were the most influential factors on the level of satisfaction of site workers in the Ghanaian construction industry. The study therefore, recommends that there should be regular assessment and enforcement conducted by policy makers and consultants on the quality of welfare facilities provided by contractors, based on the labour Act regulation on welfare provision on construction sites, to ensure that they are up to standard for workers on site.

Data-Driven Modeling of Aircraft Engine Fuel Burn in Climb Out and Approach

Fuel burn is a key driver of aircraft performance, and contributes to airline costs and emissions. Low-altitude fuel burn and emissions, such as those that occur during climb out and approach, have a significant impact on the environment in the vicinity of airports. This paper proposes a new methodology to statistically model fuel burn in the climb out and approach phases using the trajectory of an aircraft. The model features are chosen by leveraging a physical understanding of aircraft and engine dynamics. Model development is conducted through the use of Gaussian Process Regression on a limited Flight Data Recorder archive, which also provides ground truth estimates of the fuel flow rate and total fuel burn. The result is a class of models that provide predictive distributions of the fuel burn corresponding to a given aircraft trajectory, thereby also quantifying the uncertainty in the predictions. The performance of the proposed models is compared with other frequently used Aircraft Performance Models. The statistical models are found to reduce the error in the estimated total fuel burn by more than 73% in climb out and by 59% in approach.

Pro-inflammatory responses to PM0.25 from airport and urban traffic emissions

Air traffic is rapidly growing, raising concerns about the air pollution in the surroundings of airports and its impact on public health. However, little is known about the impact of air pollution sources on air quality and health in the vicinity of airports. In this study, the sources and adverse health effects of airport-related particulate matter (PM) were investigated and compared to those of urban traffic emissions. Ambient PM0.25 were collected at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and at a central Los Angeles site (USC campus), along with PM2.5 collected directly from turbine and diesel engines. The particle chemical composition, oxidative potential (OP) (ascorbic acid (AA), and electron spin resonance (ESR) assay) as well as their reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity, inflammatory potential (interleukin (IL) 6 and 8 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–α) and cytotoxicity on human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) cells were assessed. Chemical composition measurements confirmed that aircraft emissions were the major source to LAX PM0.25, while the sources of the USC samples were more complex, including traffic emissions, suspended road and soil dust, and secondary aerosols. The traffic-related transition metals (Fe and Cu) in LAX and USC samples mainly affected OP values of particles, while multiple factors such as composition, size distribution and internalized amount of particles contributed to the promotion of ROS generation in 16HBE cells during 4 h exposure. Internalized particles in cells might also play an important role in activating inflammatory responses during cell recovery period, with LAX particles being more potent. Our results demonstrated considerable toxicity of airport-related particles, even at low exposure concentrations, suggesting that airport emission as source of PM0.25 may also contribute to the adverse effects on public health attributable to PM. The potency of such particles is in the same range as those collected at a site in urban area impacted heavily by traffic emissions.

Experimental investigation of the effect of aircraft trailing vortices on roofs

AbstractRoofs of buildings in the vicinity of airports can be damaged by trailing vortices of aircraft during take‐off and landing. Preliminary experimental investigations have been conducted in a water towing tank in order to examine a discrepancy between damage probability assumptions and actual roof damage frequency. (© 2017 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Where do planes fly past overhead? Determining departure and arrival routes from radar traces

This paper questions the main techniques of mapping in the context of aircraft noise in the vicinity of airports, and compares these techniques in terms of their purpose, benefits and limitations. Then the paper describes a method to summarise radar traces of a given air transport departure or arrival route into a median route and its envelope containing 80% of flights. This makes it possible to map global and easy-to-read maps of current air procedures around airports based on actual pathways flown by the aircraft. It also makes it possible to investigate the impact of change in aeronautical procedures on the actual geography of air routes around airports. Such maps complement noise contour maps and offer a good basis for debating aeronautical procedures at airports whose operations expose the population to noise.

Objective quantification of perceived differences between measured and synthesized aircraft sounds

This paper presents an approach with which perceived audible differences in aircraft sounds can be quantified and presented in an objective manner. The objective quantification of the subjectively heard audible differences is intended to serve two primary goals. It can firstly enable developers of auralization technology to make the auralized sounds more realistic by identifying in which aspects the synthesized sounds differ from their real-life counterparts and to what extent. The quantification can secondly provide an improved and more detailed means of distinguishing between aircraft sounds in general, beyond the conventional metrics of A-weighted Sound Pressure level (dBA) or Effective Perceived Noise Level (EPNL) used currently to assess aircraft noise. In this study sound quality metrics are used to quantify the differences in aircraft sounds. These metrics are widely used in other industries such as the automotive sector. Audio files of a reference aircraft, made over identical flight paths at a noise monitoring station in the vicinity of Schiphol airport, are compared in terms of both conventional and sound quality metrics for four measured and four auralized audio files. It is observed from the comparison that differences that may appear small in the conventional metrics can be significant in terms of the sound quality metrics. Significant differences in measured and synthesized sounds are observed for the aircraft considered in this study with regards to the tonal content and fluctuations in amplitude that occur over time. The conventional metrics are seen to capture the overall loudness aspect of aircraft sounds, but give no clear information regarding which spectral or temporal characteristics cause the sounds to be perceived as audibly different.

ANALYSIS OF MAN-PORTABLE SYSTEMS INTERCEPTING MINIATURE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

A huge improvement in technology of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), usually called drones, and their wide both civilian and military use has been observed recently. For it new countermeasures are undertaken to prevent air space violation in the vicinity of airports, critical infrastructure and mass events. Drones used to smuggle substances through the borders and to the penitentiaries are another threat. This paper presents the state of art in the systems dedicated to capture the miniature UAVs, and evaluates the methods used up to now, and points out the most perspective directions for drones’ neutralization systems.

Learning Traffic Patterns at Small Airports From Flight Tracks

The majority of reported near-midair collisions that involve a general aviation aircraft occur in the vicinity of nontowered airports. A prior work has investigated the feasibility of creating an automated air traffic control system for these nontowered airports using solutions to a partially observable Markov decision process. Validating such system will require an accurate model of aircraft behavior in the traffic pattern. This paper evaluates the different approaches for deriving traffic pattern models from recorded radar data. The first approach is based on prior trajectory clustering work, where turning points in trajectories are identified and clustered. This method performs well on simulated data, but due to its reliance on noisy heading rates, it has difficulty with real-world data. The second approach uses Bayesian inference techniques to learn the parameters of the traffic pattern model, where a hidden semi-Markov model with a hierarchical Dirichlet process as a prior is investigated. Inference in this model is made computationally tractable using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The turning point and Bayesian models are compared with each other using different $f$ - divergence measures, and the latter is found to better represent the observed data.

Результати аналізу функцій розподілу для оцінки густини ймовірності розміщення місць авіаційних подій в околиці аеропорту

Стаття містить результати обробки та статичного аналізу даних про місця розміщення авіаційних подій важких та легких повітряних суден, які сталися протягом 1973–2013 рр. Представлено розподіл розміщення місць авіаційних подій під час виконання різних етапів польоту поблизу аеропорту. Показано результати аналізу функцій розподілу для оцінки густини ймовірності розміщення місць авіаційних подій під час зльоту і посадки. Розподіли Вейбула і Гама визначені як такі, що з найбільшою достовірністю відповідають опису густини ймовірності розміщення місць авіаційних подій уздовж поздовжніх і поперечних координат відносно вісі злітно-посадкової смуги. Отримані статистичні характеристики місць, де трапляються авіаційні події під час зльоту і посадки повітряних суден в околиці аеропортів.

Using radar cross-section to enhance situational awareness tools for airport avian radars

Digital avian radars can track bird movements continuously in the vicinity of airports without interruption. The result is a wealth of bird-track data that can be used in mitigation efforts to reduce bird strikes on and near airfi elds. To make the sheer volume of bird track data generated by digital avian radars accessible to users, we developed tools to transform these data into analytical and visualization products to improve situational awareness for wildlife and airfi eld personnel. In addition to the parameters traditionally associated with radar tracking (latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, and heading), we have implemented a procedure to estimate the radar cross-section (RCS) of a target, which is related to its size or mass. This additional information can provide wildlife and airfi eld managers with the knowledge they need to prioritize their efforts to deal with the greatest hazards fi rst.