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Viewing report
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Airborne Spacing and Merging in the Terminal Area. Edition No. 1
VDM Publishing House, Aug 2008, Pages: 68
Due to the natural compression of aircraft
decelerating in preparation for landing, current-day
air traffic control operations in terminal areas are
characterized by several clearances, including speed
instructions and heading vectors. These operations
often create excess spacing between consecutive
aircraft, which adds an extra buffer to the safety
margin, but reduces the number of aircraft that can
land at an airport over a period of time. Having
aircraft equipped with advanced cockpit tools that
can utilize Airborne Separation Assistance System
(ASAS) clearances like 'merge-behind-then-follow'
could increase system performance by minimizing
in-trail spacing buffers. Providing air traffic
controllers with Decision Support Tools (DSTs) that
accommodate such a strategy could further improve
system performance. In August 2004, NASA Ames
Research Center conducted a simulation of ASAS
operations. Analyses of the simulation data suggest
that airborne spacing and merging operations are
acceptable to controllers and reduce excess spacing
between aircraft.
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