Aircraft Performance Monitoring In Far-Northern Regions

Shane Pinder, Trever Crowe and Peter Nikiforuk

Abstract:	The feasibility of using an observer system during the roll and takeoff phase of aircraft operation was investigated. Unlike previous work in this field, this investigation focussed on various factors unique to the far-northern environment. Further, the Global Positioning System (GPS) was proposed as the sole source of kinematic information. This provided the possibility that an aircraft takeoff performance monitoring system (TOPMS) could be devised that required no additional ground-based installation. Some parameters considered to be of importance in a TOPMS included wheel bearing viscous friction, aircraft drag, runway slope, engine thrust, aircraft velocity, position relative to the end of the runway, and frictional coefficient between the aircraft tires and the runway. While braking is available to aircraft operating in far-northern regions, gravel runways limit its use. On gravel runways, the principal means of reducing speed is through the application of reverse thrust. As a result, a measurement of runway frictional coefficient was assumed unnecessary. This served to improve the likelihood that a monitor specifically suited to gravel runways could be successfully developed. It was expected that some of the remaining parameters may be negligible and the influence of others may be combined. A theoretical dynamic model of an aircraft in contact with the ground has been devised. A Global Positioning Data Recorder (GPDR) was constructed and installed in an aircraft operated by an airline servicing far-northern Canadian airports. The data collected in this manner were used to validate the theoretical model and to draw conclusions regarding the feasibility of such a performance monitoring system.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2001 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 22 - 24, 2001 Westin Long Beach Hotel Long Beach, CA
Pages:	319 - 326
Cite this article:	Pinder, Shane, Crowe, Trever, Nikiforuk, Peter, "Aircraft Performance Monitoring In Far-Northern Regions," Proceedings of the 2001 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Long Beach, CA, January 2001, pp. 319-326.
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