Continuous climb operations: the following steps

Abstract

Typically air traffic controller manages departure traffic gradually in the airport airspace neighborhoods, providing clearances for the access to higher altitudes determined by conditions of traffic flow mix. This air traffic management implies the realization of several level-offs at each departure which suppose an increase of the fuel consumption firstly and as result the rise of overall cost of operation. Furthermore, not only operational costs are affected but both noise and pollutants emissions are increased, eco-friendly departure procedures requires a special heed because a new international range of equirements desire to abate the environmental impact due to aircraft operations. In order to avoid this inefficient departure procedure, continuous climb operations (CCOs) are defined as novel procedures which will ease the pilot departure perform. CCO is the ideal path an aircraft might fly in the absence of any ATC issues. The aim of this work is to analyze different CCOs techniques and evaluate the feasibility of implement them in a real scenario. A review of diverse CCOs based on different concepts of operation is presented, as minimizing fuel consumption, noise impact, constant climb speed,etc., as well as the definition of the requirements a CCO must fulfill which shape the feasible solution space. Lastly, Palma ATM environment is presented as case study of the viability of implementing CCO procedures among real requirements and expected drawbacks.