A Statistical Analysis of Balked Landing Approaches for the Airbus A-380 Under GBAS Guidance

J.G. Higuera, H.J. Kumin, J.E.Fagan, G. McCartor

Abstract:	The Airbus A380 is currently the largest commercial passenger airplane in production, and is expected to start operations in late 2006 or early 2007 with Singapore Airlines. This study was undertaken to determine whether a Code E Obstacle Free Zone (OFZ) can safely accommodate a Code F aircraft such as the Airbus A380. The purpose of this paper was to statistically analyze flight simulator data for the Airbus A380 and compare it to FAA and ICAO standards. To achieve this objective, 32 different scenarios and a total of 356 runs were executed in an A340 flight simulator configured to match A380 performance characteristics. In each of these scenarios, a GPS Ground Based Augmentation System (GPS GBAS) approach was simulated for two different runways at JFK International Airport and Denver Stapleton Airport (JFK 04R and DEN 35R). For each of the scenarios, inputs such as Go Around Altitude, Flying Mode (Autopilot or Flight Director) and direction and speed of wind, were altered. During each of the simulated approaches, a balked landing procedure was called for at different altitudes. The data was collected in Berlin, Germany and analyzed at the University of Oklahoma. Two and six sigma analyses were performed using plots for lateral and vertical deviation versus the distance to the touchdown area on the runway. The purpose of this analysis was to determine where the airplane was expected to be during the balked landing procedure. Another analysis was a comparison of errors with PANS OPS metrics. This test was done to demonstrate the Total System Error (TSE) equivalence with FAA and ICAO standards for ILS/GBAS approaches. The standard deviation of vertical and lateral TSE obtained in flight testing was compared to the appropriate values of dispersion. The total aircraft dispersion at various distances for the threshold were taken from the data and compared to FAA and ICAO standards. For each scenario, two plots were created to show the expected lateral and vertical position of the aircraft at any point during the balked landing procedure. The lateral and vertical deviation for all scenarios had a probability of 99.999999% within plus/minus 100 feet or less at any point from 20,000 feet from the threshold to the touchdown zone. The comparisons between the PANS OPS metrics and the performance of the A380 show that for all of the runways and categories, the vertical and lateral measured errors (standard deviation) are less than the PANS OPS requirements. For all categories, the vertical performance was 34% better than the permissible error, and the lateral performance was 29% better than the permissible error. The approaches run using Autopilot for both runways show better performance than the ones run using Flight Director. The lateral mean of the paths at each of the distances, and for each of the different categories, do not show any kind of bias and seemed to be reasonably close to zero. From the Throttle Position Analysis, it can be concluded that as the go around altitude is closer to the ground, the difference between the missed approach starting point and the minimum altitude is smaller. The mean of the differences in time between the two points is also smaller as a function of distance to the ground. The aircraft did not penetrate the code E OFZ at any point in any of the different runs in any of the scenarios. The results also showed statistically that the A380 is able to use a code E OFZ; even though it is classified as a code F aircraft. The results of this study were given to the FAA, and will help in determining whether the A380 is able to land at US airports.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006) September 26 - 29, 2006 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX
Pages:	425 - 436
Cite this article:	Higuera, J.G., Kumin, H.J., J.E.Fagan,, McCartor, G., "A Statistical Analysis of Balked Landing Approaches for the Airbus A-380 Under GBAS Guidance," Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006), Fort Worth, TX, September 2006, pp. 425-436.
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