CONTINUOUS DESCENT APPROACH: NOISE TEST FOR WARSAW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

The noise generated by aircraft during departure and arrival flight operations continues to be significant problem at most major airports. Environmental impacts due to aviation operations in the vicinity of airports have become a serious concern to the community. A variety of techniques can be employed to reduce the noise impacts of aircraft. Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) is the new promising technique, which can significantly reduce noise impact by keeping aircraft higher and at lower engine thrust for longer by eliminating the level segments in conventional “step down” approaches. These procedures (implemented in different ways) are fixed routes that are vertically optimized. With the changing traffic, conditions and variable noise abatement rules the benefits of CDA operations are not yet fully realized. Actually, at many airports, CDA techniques are implemented for environmental improvements. This article presents the concept of optimized CDA. The modified flight procedure has been shown in measurement and analysis for Warsaw International Airport example. In this demonstration test, the procedure was shown to reduce the A-weighted noise level for the selected location along the flight path for different aircraft. Depending on aircraft type, the noise benefit from a CDA compared to a conventional approach was up to about 9.5 decibels (this change is noticeable to the human ear). Measurements have shown that Continuous Descent Approach have the potential for significant environmental benefits including reductions in noise.