Low Power/Low Drag Approaches to Mitigate Environmental Impacts of Aviation

Concerns about the aviation's environmental impact have prompted research efforts around the world. Much of this research has focused on changes to future aircraft and engine designs: although these hold the prospect of significant environmental impact reductions on a per flight basis, it will take a long time for them to be developed and propagate through the operational fleet in sufficient numbers to have a significant impact on overall emission levels. Until then, strategies that reduce the environmental impacts of existing aircraft are needed. Therefore, there is a need to identify and evaluate ways to reduce the environmental impacts of aviation in the near term. Such changes would involve minor adjustments to operating procedures or limited equipment/infrastructure changes. The goal of Project 32 was to systematically evaluate and rank all the potential near-term operational changes against a common set of environmental impact and feasibility criteria, and hence make it possible to determine the relative potential of the various options and to understand which ones should be given priority.

• Record URL:
  http://partner.mit.edu/projects/near-term-operational-changes
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Program information: Centers of Excellence, Aircraft Noise and Aviation Emissions Mitigation

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $79864.00
• Contract Numbers:

  09-C-NE-MIT-014

  09-C-NE-MIT-027

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Aviation Administration

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20591
• Project Managers:

  Moran, Patrick

• Performing Organizations:

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  77 Massachusetts Avenue
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02139
• Principal Investigators:

  Hansman, R

• Start Date: 20110901
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20130228
• Source Data: RiP Project 34776

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aircraft; Aircraft exhaust gases; Drag; Engines; Environmental impacts; Pollutants; Power
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Vehicles and Equipment; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01571719
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 09-C-NE-MIT-014, 09-C-NE-MIT-027
• Files: RIP
• Created Date: Jul 29 2015 1:01AM