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Novel Continuous Descent Simulation Test Support

Final Report Summary - NOCONDES (Novel Continuous Descent Simulation Test Support)

The project has completed its objectives as set out in the Annex I of the Grant Agreement in terms carrying out design support, test shake downs and hosting visiting crews including supervision during the execution of the human in the loop (HITL) simulations as well as post simulations observations, analyses and recommendations.

Support was given to NLR in the design of the multi parameter guidance with time and energy managed (MPG-TEMO) algorithm, the associated human machine interface (HMI) and the simulator and the setup / validation design for the trials.

The project team completed the actions of giving advice on improvements of the MPG-TEMO functions from flight operations perspective; and advice on improvements of the HMI from flight operations perspective.

The team also in close collaboration with NLR and Technical University of Delft (TUD) carried out the development of cockpit procedures for continuous descent operations with MPG-TEMO that were a prerequisite for the HITL simulations. NOCONDES also completed the experimental design definition and selection of scenarios for the simulator experiment and the development of a pilot briefing guide.

The simulation sessions with external airline pilots were run successfully with NLR/TUD technical staff and operationally supervised by NOCONDES project pilots. In total, 9 subject (airline) pilots flew 108 successful simulation runs.

The subject pilots all accepted the MPG-TEMO concept and procedures and provided valuable feedback on the simulator, the procedures, the HMI's and concept at trial to the research and development team.

The NOCONDES partners analysed the simulation observations and pilot questionnaire responses deriving a general and subjective conclusion and recommendations for improvements on the MPG-TEMO function and project setup. The NOCONDES consortium analysis was made from a flight operations perspective in close cooperation with MPG-TEMO developers' team.

It was concluded that time and energy management managed operations is the way to go and it has a large possibility of automation. It was also reflected that even with a great developed FMS algorithm, the quality of the input such as wind profile is crucial to time navigation.

Project context and objectives:

The objectives of the project included:

- provision of senior flight crew (test and certification pilots) for HMI prototyping sessions in flight simulators acting as project pilot;
- development of flight procedures, definition and selection of scenarios for simulator experiments;
- advice on improvements of multi parameter guidance with time and energy managed operations from a flight operations perspective;
- select and schedule flight crews for the simulator experiments including production of pilot briefing guides;
- providing analyses from a flight operations perspective in collaboration with the technical team.

Project results:

The significant results are the completion of the deliverables as planned:

- D1 - Flight scenarios to validate MPG-TEMO in a simulator experiment (based on the batch study results and mock-up demonstrations done by NLR/TUD)
- D2 - Pilot briefing guide to participate in the MPG-TEMO simulator experiment (including cockpit procedures)
- D3 - Flight operations analysis of the MPG-TEMO experiment (a qualitative operational subjective assessment).

Potential impact:

The project contributes with a socio economic impact stemming from the realistic assessment and validation by representatives of the end user community contributions to the development of FMS functionalities, positively contributing to the European competitiveness in the research and development (R&D), operations and production of equipment for aircraft in the air transport system.

Cooperation and dissemination was limited from the beneficiaries to only be with the topic manager NLR who in turn were to decide how this CLEAN SKY project would be disseminated and further exploited in the work packages of the CLEAN SKY project were the work was part.

The NOCONDES project consortium consisted of a strong team of airborne domain specialists including test-, certification- and operational line pilots and validation engineers with a joint over 100 years of experience in the development of commercial aircraft:

AVTECH Sweden AB, (coordinator), http://www.avtech.aero
CertiFlyer B.V. http://www.certiflyer.eu
Use2Aces B.V. http://www.use2aces.com