B.5.3 WP85 Study Continuous Climb Operations Presented by: Bill Holtzman (USA ) Member of TOC

B.5.3 WP85

Study Continuous Climb Operations

Presented by:Bill Holtzman (USA)

Member of TOC

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Why Continuous Climb?

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Current Operations

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Continuous Climb

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Sample RNAV SID

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Vertical Profile

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Complexity is Good!• Multiple restrictions in one

clearance• Reduced transmissions• Potential de-confliction of

airspace• Less chances for readback

errors

How does it affect ATC?

Complexity is Bad!• Goodbye K-I-S-S• Monitoring compliance is

difficult• Intervention difficult• Situational awareness can

suffer

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MITRE Study, 2008

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

1. For 35 US Airports, savings of 380 million USD in fuel:• 90% from savings during arrival• 10% during departure

2. Reduction of 850,000 metric tons CO2

3. Reduction of 216 metric tons SOX

MITRE Conclusion

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Dallas Study, 2010

3800 departures studied over 9 days:• 20% leveled off at 10,000 ft• Average level-off lasted 1.7 minutes• Average fuel savings for all departure

aircraft with continuous descent was 7 gallons out of 450

• For continuous descent, savings was 50 gallons out of 300

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

IFATCA CDO Policy (1)

IFATCA defines Continuous Descent Operations as:Continuous Descent Operations (CDO) are aircraft operating techniques facilitated by appropriate airspace and procedure design which meet all ATM requirements, allowing the execution of an optimized descent profile.

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

IFATCA CDO Policy (2)

IFATCA supports the development and implementation of Continuous Descent Operations provided that:• Controllers are involved in the design.• Airspace is suited to the design.• The design meets the desired ATM capacity.• Tactical ATC interventions are allowed.• Flight predictability is increased for both

pilots and controllers.• Controller workload is not increased beyond

an acceptable level.

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

IFATCA CDO Policy (3)

Doc 9931 should be amended as follows:• Incorporate CDA design practices learned by

the pioneers of continuous descent, including the 90% rule, the use of extensive simulation and the need for automated wind data and advanced sequencing tools.

• More precisely refer to those procedures it aims to regulate as either Continuous Descent Arrivals (CDAs) or Optimized Profile Descents (OPDs).

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

De-confliction of Airspace• Build routes whose vertical profiles

remain clear of each other• Aircraft are “route separated” or

“sterile” – conflictions impossible!• Wasteful and inefficiento Daily demands changeo Much airspace unusedo Degrades benefits of continuous ops

De-confliction useful as starting point.

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Procedure DesignNeed to balance:• Aircraft need for altitude range to

adjust trajectory• Controller need to limit altitude range

to make room for other aircraft• Daily traffic cycle, seasonal changes

and varying trends over time• Competition between routes for larger

vertical envelopes

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Dual departure operations

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

ICAO Manual

Need to balance:• Aircraft need for altitude range to

adjust trajectory• Controller need to limit altitude range

to make room for other aircraft• Daily traffic cycle, seasonal changes

and varying trends over time

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

1. Continuous climb departures are considered by the industry as an important element of future ATM.

2. Continuous climb operations do not represent the same potential benefits as continuous descent because departure procedures are generally fairly efficient.

3. For the same route, continuous climb can provide the following benefits in comparison to step climbs:• Reduced fuel burn• Shorter flight times• Reduced emissions• Reduced noise• Reduced number of ATC clearances

Conclusions

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

4. Generally, there will be a tradeoff between optimizing continuous climb operations and optimizing continuous descent operations. However, in some cases continuous climb operations can enable the implementation of continuous descent operations.

5. Continuous climb operations can provide controllers with an important advantage. They can be used to issue complex, multi-restriction clearances easily and quickly.

6. There are potential problems with the use of continuous climb:• Complexity of procedures generally increases risk.• Compliance with the vertical profile of a CCO is

more difficult to monitor.• Distinguishing which aircraft have been cleared to

fly the vertical profile or not could be difficult.

Conclusions

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

7. Effective design of continuous climb procedures provides some level of de-confliction with other traffic flows.

8. The “90% Rule” recommended for use in design of continuous descent procedures is not appropriate for continuous climb because of the wide range of climb performance.

9. IFATCA policy on continuous descent operations is also relevant on continuous climb operations.

Conclusions

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

Questions?

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

4.1 - IFATCA Policy is:IFATCA defines Continuous Climb Operations as:Continuous Climb Operations (CCO) are aircraft operating techniques facilitated by appropriate airspace and procedure design which meet all ATM requirements, allowing the execution of an optimized climb profile.and is included in the IFATCA Technical and Professional Manual.

Recommendations

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

4.2 - IFATCA Policy is:IFATCA supports the development and implementation of Continuous Descent Operations and Continuous Climb Operations provided that:

• Controllers are involved in the design.• Airspace is suited to the design.• The design meets the desired ATM capacity.• Tactical interventions are always possible.• Flight predictability is increased for both pilots and

controllers.• Controller workload is not increased beyond an

acceptable level.• It increases the overall performance of the ATM

system without reducing safety.and is included in the IFATCA Technical and Professional Manual.

Recommendations

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B.5.3 Continuous Climb WP85

NATCA Comments on Draft ICAO CCO Manual

CCO designs should not require intervention under routine conditions.

Mixed mode operations - undesirable. Procedures should encourage users to

invest in advanced avionics. Dual departure route concept has

potential but is unproven. CCO Manual should not encourage use

of shortcuts.