Analysis of Aircraft Fuel Burn and Emissions in the Landing and Take Off Cycle using Operational Data

An understanding of aircraft fuel burn and emissions is necessary to evaluate their effects on the environment. In this paper, data from Flight Data Recorders (FDRs) have been used to estimate the operational values of times in mode, fuel flow rates, fuel burn, NOx emission indices, and quantities of emissions produced during the Landing and Take Off (LTO) cycle for 12 aircraft-and-engine combinations. These operational values are statistically compared to those reported in the ICAO Engine Exhaust Emissions Databank. In most cases, the operational values are found to differ from the ICAO databank values in a statistically significant manner. The ICAO databank is found to typically overestimate the values of LTO cycle fuel burn and emissions. The use of FDR archives also enables the characterization of the operational variability in fuel burn and emissions among different instances of the same aircraft-engine combination.