The Converging Runway Display Aid (CRDA) is a simple, passive visualization tool that has been available in the terminal automation systems in the National Airspace System (NAS) for about 20 years. CRDA is geared towards simplifying the use of intersecting or converging approaches and paths. Its simplicity has often prompted aviation enthusiasts to hypothesize wider use in the NAS to improve both the safety and capacity of the system. Even so, the tool has not realized wide-spread use in the NAS. Recently, RTCA Task Force V recommended that it be implemented at more sites in the NAS. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has incorporated its wider use as one of its flight plan goals. This has helped its deployment at several new key sites. This paper explores basic factors that contribute to the challenges in deploying CRDA and how they could be addressed. It presents the example of the recent CRDA deployment at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to document and illustrate how this process can and has been applied successfully. It describes the impact of the CRDA use at EWR by analyzing one year of operational data. It concludes with a report on the outlook for CRDA deployment in the NAS.
Airlines continue to acquire or equip existing aircraft with improved and more capable avionics. Improvements such as the Flight Management System (FMS) allow aircraft to fly preplanned paths with precision. Attempts to take advantage of improved aircraft guidance to make approaches, amvals, and departures in the terminal area more uniform and predictable are consequently a natural development in air traffic control. The use of Area Navigation (RNAV) routes is one example of exploiting the current avionics technology to improve/simplify operations. In this study we look at the consequences and implications for amvals of the fact that not all aircraft are yet RNAV equipped.The interplay of equipped aircraft (that fly the route according to the FMS) and non-equipped aircraft (which must be vectored) was studied in terms of controller technique, controller training and familiarization, controller comfort level, and the resultant impact on the efficacy of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) operation. The effects of specific factors such as variation in tum execution, variation in speed profiles and airspace use were objectively measured. Three arrival routes of increasing complexity were simulated. One complex route was examined using a varying mix of equipped and unequipped traffic at a fixed, steady state rate. the percentage of non-RNAV traffic that can be accommodated on a complex arrival route is about 20 percent, and show at the rates simulated, that it was not necessary to segregate equipped and nonequipped aircraft. The simulation results indicate that the tolerance for non-RNAV aircraft may be even higher for simple arrival routes. Other results of the controller in the loop simulations will be presented in detail: reduced flying distances, reduced communications workload, reduced fuel bum and reduced variance in the inter-aircraft arrival times can all be correlated to increasing the percentage of the aircraft that are RNAV equipped. Controller in the loop simulations indicate thatThese results argue that there are benefits of aircraft flying RNAV routes.
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