Fuel saved, noise reduced with some LAX arrivals
Saturday, February 28, 2009
(02-28) 01:21 PST Los Angeles, CA (AP) --
Nearly half of the planes landing at Los Angeles International Airport save fuel and reduce noise and air pollution because of an arrival technique that allows the aircraft to glide rather than make a string of descents.
The procedure, known as continuous descent approaches, is employed by 300 to 400 of the estimated 800 aircraft that land daily at the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The method allows airplanes to use minimum power instead of having pilots rely on their engines to repeatedly speed up and then slow down to level off.
"It's like taking your foot off the gas at the top of a hill and just gliding straight into the airport from 18,000 feet on a smooth, controlled path to touchdown," said Walter White, an FAA manager who headed a team that developed the procedure.
Officials said the technique also increases the safety of landings, one of the most critical phases of a flight.
They estimate the procedure at LAX saves airlines at least 1 million gallons of fuel annually and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, which have been linked to global warming, by about 18 million pounds a year.
"For everyone in the L.A. basin, this is a help, a total win-win. You've got the fuel savings, the noise reductions and the attendant reduction in contamination," said Denny Schneider, an airport activist and member of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion.
Federal aviation officials implemented continuous descents at LAX in December 2007 on one of the eastern approaches. The agency has converted the other two eastern routes to the procedure, making LAX the only airport in the nation to have such a broad application of the technique.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
(02-28) 01:21 PST Los Angeles, CA (AP) --
Nearly half of the planes landing at Los Angeles International Airport save fuel and reduce noise and air pollution because of an arrival technique that allows the aircraft to glide rather than make a string of descents.
The procedure, known as continuous descent approaches, is employed by 300 to 400 of the estimated 800 aircraft that land daily at the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The method allows airplanes to use minimum power instead of having pilots rely on their engines to repeatedly speed up and then slow down to level off.
"It's like taking your foot off the gas at the top of a hill and just gliding straight into the airport from 18,000 feet on a smooth, controlled path to touchdown," said Walter White, an FAA manager who headed a team that developed the procedure.
Officials said the technique also increases the safety of landings, one of the most critical phases of a flight.
They estimate the procedure at LAX saves airlines at least 1 million gallons of fuel annually and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, which have been linked to global warming, by about 18 million pounds a year.
"For everyone in the L.A. basin, this is a help, a total win-win. You've got the fuel savings, the noise reductions and the attendant reduction in contamination," said Denny Schneider, an airport activist and member of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion.
Federal aviation officials implemented continuous descents at LAX in December 2007 on one of the eastern approaches. The agency has converted the other two eastern routes to the procedure, making LAX the only airport in the nation to have such a broad application of the technique.