Studies of uncontrolled air traffic patterns, phase 1

Abstract

Verbatim from NASA NTRS. Not paraphrased, not summarized.

The general aviation air traffic flow patterns at uncontrolled airports are investigated and analyzed and traffic pattern concepts are developed to minimize the midair collision hazard in uncontrolled airspace. An analytical approach to evaluate midair collision hazard probability as a function of traffic densities is established which is basically independent of path structure. Two methods of generating space-time interrelationships between terminal area aircraft are presented; one is a deterministic model to generate pseudorandom aircraft tracks, the other is a statistical model in preliminary form. Some hazard measures are presented for selected traffic densities. It is concluded that the probability of encountering a hazard should be minimized independently of any other considerations and that the number of encounters involving visible-avoidable aircraft should be maximized at the expense of encounters in other categories.

Authors

• Baxa, E. G., Jr. Research Triangle Inst.
• Scharf, L. L. Colorado State Univ.
• Ruedger, W. H. Research Triangle Inst.
• Modi, J. A. Research Triangle Inst.
• Wheelock, S. L. Research Triangle Inst.
• Davis, C. M. Research Triangle Inst.