|
From The Australian:
Changes are being made to the way aircraft fly and land in Australia in an attempt to cut aviation greenhouse emissions.
Initiatives announced yesterday by federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile are designed to cut aircraft fuel use and the amount of carbon dioxide they pump out, potentially slashing greenhouse emissions by hundreds of thousands of tonnes a year.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus estimates that improved air traffic control measures could reduce fuel consumption by 10 per cent and air traffic controllers such as Airservices Australia are looking at ways to improve the system.
Mr Vaile said yesterday that measures would include more flexible flight tracks and improved air traffic control sequencing to reduce fuel burn, more efficient runway use, and continuous-descent approaches, which minimise speed changes.
The measures had strong environmental benefits and Airservices was working with airlines and airports, he said.
A program designed to improve the sequencing of aircraft into Australia began on Monday and was saving more than nine tonnes of C02 every day, he said.
The new system looks at aircraft 1000 nautical miles out of Australia, instead of 100 nautical miles, and sequences aircraft to land in more regular patterns. It takes advantage of the fact that typical twin-engine aircraft will burn 50kg of fuel every minute while manoeuvring at lower levels, as opposed to 5kg on the ground idling or 10kg at cruise.
Read the whole article
| 
Re: Air Traffic Plan to Bring Down Emissions
