Experimental Measurements of Fuel Savings During Aircraft Wake Surfing

Abstract

completed a series of research flights to better understand the challenges of aircraft wake surfing using civilian airplanes and commercial avionics. The research flights sought to demonstrate significant fuel savings by a pair of business jets engaged in automated wake surfing using commercial off-the-shelf avionics to the fullest extent possible, including a 1090-MHz Automatic Dependent Surveillance -Broadcast (ADS-B) data link. A NASA Gulfstream C-20A airplane (Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Georgia) was flown as the trail airplane within the wake of a NASA Gulfstream III (G-III) airplane. This paper presents a summary of the fuel savings measured during those flights. I. Nomenclature ADS-B = Automatic Dependent Surveillance -Broadcast AOA = angle of attack FAA = Federal Aviation Administration ILS = instrument landing system kcas = knots calibrated airspeed = fuel quantity, lb ̇0 = trim fuel flow, lb per hour ̇ = recorded fuel flow, lb per hour PPH = lb per hour TP = test point Δ = off-condition airspeed, kcas ̇ = airspeed rate of change, kcas per sec II.

Operationalizing Flight Formations for Aerodynamic Benefits

“…A significant flight test conducted in 2013 focused on maneuvers, procedures, human factors, safety, and compatibility with normal operations and air traffic control. NASA continued flight testing, most recently in the Gulfstream III, validating the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) as a datalink 10 . Commercial companies such as Lockheed-Martin and Airbus, academia, and government research laboratories (e.g., the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt, DLR) have conducted extensive modeling and simulation and flights for AWSE.…”

Experimental Measurements of Passenger Ride Quality During Aircraft Wake Surfing

“…[14]) for a detailed description of the pilot displays used for this flight experiment and Hanson (Ref. [15]) for more details regarding the wake surfing performance measurements and analysis.…”

Extended State Observer-Based Sliding-Mode Control for Aircraft in Tight Formation Considering Wake Vortices and Uncertainty

“…The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Armstrong Flight Research Center (Edwards, CA, USA) completed a series of studies, in which a NASA Gulfstream C-20A airplane (Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, GA, USA) was flown as the trail airplane within the wake of a NASA Gulfstream III (G-III) airplane. The results showed fuel reductions in formation ranging from 3.5 to 8 percent, compared with that of a single aircraft [18]. The optimal positioning of a flying wing aircraft behind a refueling plane was extensively investigated by Okolo et al [19], who revealed that any deviation from the static sweet spot, whether in the vertical or lateral direction, results in reductions in the lift-to-drag ratio benefit.…”