SMALL AIRCRAFT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

1.221J/11.527J/ESD.201J – Transportation Systems Assignment 1- Fall 2004 SMALL AIRCRAFT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS Philippe A. Bonnefoy INTRODUCTION wi...
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1.221J/11.527J/ESD.201J – Transportation Systems Assignment 1- Fall 2004

SMALL AIRCRAFT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS Philippe A. Bonnefoy

INTRODUCTION

with 170,500 registered aircraft in the United

Air transportation systems are based on a

States in 2001. However, compared with the size

variety of vehicles including fixed wing aircraft

of the fleet of major airlines like American

and helicopters. The most diverse and developed

Airlines (over 800 aircraft), the number of jet

category remains the fixed wing aircraft with

aircraft is significant with 7000 aircraft operated

sizes ranging from single seat to 555 seats in the

in the United States in 2001. Turboprops are the

case

least numerous category with 5800 registered

of

the

Airbus

A380.

This

size

characterization relates to passenger vehicles.

aircraft.

However, cargo aircraft have similar range of

aircraft. However, there exists a segment of the

-----------------------------------Piston 170,500 Turboprop 5,800 Jet 7,000 -----------------------------------Total 183,300 ------------------------------------

air transportation market that relies on smaller

Table 1: Number of aircraft by type [1].

sizes. The largest fraction of commercial air transportation is performed using 50 to 300 seat

vehicles.

Modes of Operation Because

from

an

acquisition

and

OVERVIEW OF CURRENT SMALL AIRCRAFT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

operating cost perspective, small aircraft are

For the purpose of this study, small

counterparts, the modes of operation are much

much

more

accessible

than

their

larger

more diverse.

aircraft were defined as aircraft able to transport from 2 passengers, like the Cessna 172 or the

General Aviation

Piper PA28 aircraft up to 12 passengers such as

General aviation is the term used to

Gulfstream V or similar business jets. Of course,

define [2] aircraft operations that encompass all

similar size aircraft used for freight transportation

civil aviation other than scheduled airline flights

are included in the analysis.

and military aviation. It includes everything from a privately-owned light single-engine aircraft to business jets, police, pipeline patrol, emergency

Vehicles & Technology As shown on Table 1, the largest fraction

medical flights, crop-dusting, rotorcraft, sport

of small aircraft is powered by piston engines

ballooning and many other aerial activities. From an operational perspective, general aviation

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1.221J/11.527J/ESD.201J – Transportation Systems Assignment 1- Fall 2004 operations can be segregated into three major

professional need. For example, aircraft are

categories. Table 2 shows the utilization of

utilized for aerial observations, tourism like site

aircraft for various type of flying. The activity

seeing, or for critical transportation purposes like

where most of the vehicles are used is the

air medical or air ambulances.

“personal” category. This category is probably

In term of vehicle operation, much of the

the most heterogeneous in term of operations

traffic in general aviation is flown under Visual

since

non

Flight Rules (VFR). However, as this is the case

transportation activity such as leisure flying

for airline traffic, certain part of general aviation,

around an airport, antique aircraft collection to

mostly the commercial part is flown by reference

transportation purposes like private pilots owning

to Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) wherever

their aircraft and using it as a substitute to other

ground facilities adequately support that type of

modes of transportation.

navigation. Basically, the VFR flights require that

-----------------------------------Corporate 11,000 Business 25,200 Personal 148,200 Instructional 14,900 Flight 4,300 Aerial observation 5,100 External load 200 Other work 1,800 Site seeing 900 Air tour 300 Air taxi 3,700 Air medical 900 Other 1,000 -----------------------------------Total 217,500 ------------------------------------

good weather conditions exist all along the flight

it

regroups

everything

from

pattern. This makes this type of flying unreliable from a service perspective. On the other hand, IFR flights, as performed by corporate and business aviation, use the same rules and procedures as commercial airlines. Therefore, they are not constrained by the weather and service is more reliable. Infrastructure

Table 2: Number of aircraft by type of flying [1].

In January 2001, the US airport system

Corporate & Business Aviation is another

was composed of 19306 airports of which 5314

significant mode of operation. In this case,

were public (Figure 1).

aircraft are owned by companies (users) or owned and managed by charter companies who provide service to various customers. The largest fraction of these operations is non-scheduled. However there exist some scheduled services, mainly in the case of corporate aviation where a company owns one or multiple aircraft and uses them to move its personnel from one company site to another. Finally, the last category may regroup all type

of

operations

based

on

a

Figure 1: Current set of airports in the U.S [3].

specific

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1.221J/11.527J/ESD.201J – Transportation Systems Assignment 1- Fall 2004 The ground facilities needed for most

specific take off field length. Therefore, a large

general aviation flights are generally less

aircraft which requires a long take off field length

sophisticated than those required by the airlines

will be more restricted in term of airport access

operating scheduled flights, but there are many

than a smaller aircraft. For example, single piston

differences between the smaller grass aerodromes

engine aircraft have access to more than 6500

and the airports capable of accepting large

runways in the United States (Figure 2).

corporate aircraft. Issues

Take-Off Length (ft) (MTOW / Sea Level / ISA+15C)

0 00 16 0 00 15 0 00 14 0 00 13 0 00 12 0 00 11 0 00 10 00 90 00 80 00 70 00 60 00 50 00 40 00 30 00 20 00 10 0

Wide Body Jet

small

aircraft

There are several barriers that limit the

A 380 B747-400 A310-300

utilization of small aircraft and make it a less

B767-300

B737-800

popular mode of transportation than scheduled

B757-300

Narrow Body Jet

current

transportation systems

A340-500

A321 A 320

airline services or ground transportation by car,

A319 B737-600

etc.

CRJ900LR

Regional Jet

about

E195 E145ER/ LR

First, in the case of business and

CRJ200ER E140LR

corporate aviation, the use of expensive jet

Turbo Props

Dash 8 Q400 A TR72

aircraft and the low utilization rate of these assets

Beech 1900

Micro Jets

Dash 8 Q100

impose high costs per mile compared to services

M ust ang Adam A700

Single Engine Piston

Eclipse

offered by scheduled airline. Even though some

Baron58 Piper M alibu 8000

6000

that allow users

1248

5000

to buy a share in a type of

aircraft, lowers the costs, these options of travel

841

4000 3000

209

40

19

16

5

14000-15000

15000-16000

0

149 104 60

13000-14000

146

1000

remain inaccessible to the general public.

384

362

2000

12000-13000

Number of runways at public airports in the continental U.S.

business models based on fractional ownership,

1763 1593

7000

In the case of personal general aviation,

0

11000-12000

10000-11000

9000-10000

8000-9000

7000-8000

6000-7000

5000-6000

4000-5000

3000-4000

2000-3000

1000-2000

0-1000

pilots using piston engine aircraft have to fly in good weather conditions unless they have a

Runw ay length ranges (in ft)

Figure 2: Aircraft performance vs. airport

specially equipped aircraft and a special IFR

capabilities in the United States [4] [5].

license. Because of the weather constraint, this

In fact, the ability for an aircraft to use a

mode of transportation is not reliable. In addition,

particular runway is dictated by its take off

small airports that are utilized by general aviation

performance, which is also defined by the take

do not provide the same ground services, such as

off field length. Because this distance is a

car rentals, etc, as the one found at major airports

function of the aircraft weight, and its propulsion

[6]. Therefore, this mode of transportation is less

and aerodynamics capabilities each aircraft has a

attractive.

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1.221J/11.527J/ESD.201J – Transportation Systems Assignment 1- Fall 2004 Due to high costs, unreliability of service

would have been put in place, the new very light

in some cases, the demand that would exist for

jets, and the current set of more than 5300 un-

small aircraft transportation often find substitute

congested airports in the United States, would

modes of transportation such as scheduled

allow the emergence of new on-demand, point-to-

airlines or cars.

point high speed (Figure 3) and low fare personal transportation between suburban, rural and

RECENT EVOLUTION IN SMALL AIRCRAFT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

remote communities.

However, a technological breakthrough on the vehicle side may allow a wider utilization of small aircraft as a safe, fast and efficient mode of transportation. Breakthrough in vehicle technology A new technological breakthrough in small aircraft engines leading to the development

Figure 3: Door to door trip speed for various mode

of more efficient engines will eventually bring on

of transportation (SATS) [7].

the market new four to six seat aircraft, for half the price of current similar jets and with

Limitation of the SATS program

significantly lower operating costs. As of 2004, at

However, the SATS program remains a

least 6 manufacturers are in the process of

concept of operation and there exist several

bringing aircraft to certification, among them

limitations to this concept in the current air

Eclipse, Adam aircraft, Cessna, etc.

transportation environment. The failure of Williams International, the

Long term vision: “The SATS Program”

engine manufacturer that started the development

In the 1990s, as the new engine

of the efficient small jet engines (EJ22), to

technology was starting to be developed, NASA

deliver the announced performance constitutes a

saw in this emerging technology a way to

first limitation. Other engines for small aircraft

develop personal air transportation. The program

such as Pratt & Whitney PW610 and PW615, the

called “Small Aircraft Transportation System

Williams FJ33 will become available eventually

(SATS)” [6] was lead by NASA Langley. The

if they are certified; the performance levels are

goal was to test an innovative concept for

not as revolutionary as the one the EJ22 would

personal air transportation, as well as developing

have offered. Engine lower performance means

key technologies that would be required to

higher operating costs and therefore makes the

achieve such goal. Once these technologies

operation of the aircraft slightly less attractive.

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1.221J/11.527J/ESD.201J – Transportation Systems Assignment 1- Fall 2004 The currently long certification process

services for significantly lower fares than current

required for aircraft certification make it costly

business and corporate aviation. The air taxi

for manufacturers to quickly develop new aircraft

based concept solves the limitations of the SATS

pushing the innovation and evolution process fast

program that have been illustrated earlier. In fact,

as it is the case, for example, in the automobile

the higher utilization of the aircraft implies lower

industry.

unit costs. The safety and training issue is solved

Another limitation remains the level of

by flying the aircraft with two professionally

training required from a pilot that would own and

trained pilots, etc.

operate its aircraft for personal transportation. Unlike current piston engine aircraft, very light

CONCLUSION

jets are faster and fly higher which require more

Starting from the current state of the

training and experience to fly. This training issue

small aircraft transportation system, this paper

of private pilot willing to fly very light jets comes

has addressed the current limitations of this

with insurance issues where insurances are

transportation

expensive and require pilots to go through special

evolutions of the system enabled by emerging

training courses.

technologies were analyzed and limitations for

From a cost perspective, the acquisition

short

to

system.

medium

term

In

addition,

development

future

were

and operating cost requires the aircraft to be

addressed. Finally, a business and operational

operated several hundred hours per year to justify

model that might be the first step towards a more

such costs.

accessible, reliable and efficient small aircraft

These are several barriers that make the

transportation system was presented.

concept difficult to implement on a wide scale, at least in the short term.

REFERENCES

Near term models: Air Taxi

[1]

United States Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration [US DOT FAA] Factbook of 2001, 2001

[2]

Definition from Wikipedia, [online encyclopedia] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_avi ation [last accessed 14/SEP/04]

[3]

Personal plot, data source: FAA, National Plan for Integrated Airport System, 2002. Jane’s All the World Aircraft, 2004-2005

However, on-demand point-to-point air transportation may not be accessible, in the short and medium term, to masses of individual owning their plane and using it as conveniently as their car, similar services might be available in the upcoming years. The solution would come from aviation companies, who would own and operate large fleets of these small aircraft and

[4]

offer on-demand point-to-point air transportation

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1.221J/11.527J/ESD.201J – Transportation Systems Assignment 1- Fall 2004 [5]

FAA, Airport Form 5010 data, [online database], URL: http://www.gcr1.com/5010web/ [last accessed September 2004]

[6]

DOWNEN Troy D. and HANSMAN R. John Jr., Analysis of Barriers to the Utility of General Aviation based on User Survey and Mode Choice Model, Report No ICAT 2002-01, MIT, 2002.

[7]

NASA, SATS program website, URL: http://sats.nasa.gov/

Other references on the subject: BOKULICH Frank, The world of business jet technology,

Aerospace

Engineering,

SAE

Aerospace Publications, p23-27, April 2002. COSTA

Peter

R.,

HARNED

Doug

S.,

LUNDQUIST Jerrold T., Rethinking the aviation industry, The McKinsey Quarterly, Number 2 Risk and resilience, 2002. FALLOWS James M., Free Flight: from airline age to new age of travel, Publics Affairs,2001. PORT Otis, Many Are Hailing This Air Taxi, BusinessWeek Online, August 28, 2002.

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