More Airports to Use Greener ‘Glide’ Approach to Landing -"(by having incoming planes turn off their engines"

https://www.scientificamerican.com ^ | February 1, 2023 | By Minho Kim, E&E News on

[RomanSoldier19]

Eleven more U.S. airports plan to adopt a new way of landing planes that reduces both emissions and noise — all by having incoming planes turn off their engines and glide down to the tarmac like a paraglider.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday that planes heading to Orlando, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Omaha, Neb.; Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base; Reno, Nev.; and six airports in South Florida soon would make idle descents to runways. It's a method called “Optimized Profile Descent,” and more than 60 U.S. airports already have it in place.

[safisoft]

Actually, there is CPDLC for most oceanic crossings - it uses satellite for communicating with Oceanic controllers - HF is only used as a listening only in case CPDLC fails.

[safisoft]

No, that is simply an overly-ggressive autopilot. Likely an older Boeing or McDonnell Douglas machine. After Airbus perfected automation in the late 1980s, most manufacturers smoothed out their idle descent algorithms when VNAV and auto thrust are used.

[safisoft]

OPDs are a little different from CSDs. CSDs maintain a required vertical speed to attain a precise altitude over a fix (not high or low). For instance, the CSD to the western runways at London Heathrow have you start the descent our of Okham at 9000 or more, to arrive on final approach at glide slope intercept.

A OPD has windowed altitudes at much higher altitudes (often cruise altitudes) and derive a constant idle descent to an airport’s transition altitudes.

Where this article gets it wrong is: Optimum Profile Descents are far from new - we have done them in the US for decades - and the engines are NEVER shut off which is so wrong it is ridiculous.

Woke DOT greenies are claiming credit for something that they have had nothing do with in implementing. I suspect this article came from someone who things DOT Sec Buttigegg is doing great work “running the airlines and airports.”

[safisoft]

Airline pilot Unions should immediately put out press releases that this kind of thing is absolute nonsense.

This article is an example of the DOT trying to be green and trying to show the press how they are doing something about “climate change.”

Airline pilots have ALWAYS worked to be efficient because we know the fuel we save is ours to use in unforeseen contingencies. No one wastes fuel, because we know fuel is our life when we are in the air - not because we are “trying the save the planet.”

[safisoft]

Read the first sentence of the article at the site:

Eleven more U.S. airports plan to adopt a new way of landing planes that reduces both emissions and noise — all by having incoming planes turn off their engines and glide down to the tarmac like a paraglider.

[safisoft]

The article is nonsense. Read the first sentence of the article at the site:

Eleven more U.S. airports plan to adopt a new way of landing planes that reduces both emissions and noise — all by having incoming planes turn off their engines and glide down to the tarmac like a paraglider.

[safisoft]

The first sentence of the article at the site:

Eleven more U.S. airports plan to adopt a new way of landing planes that reduces both emissions and noise — all by having incoming planes turn off their engines and glide down to the tarmac like a paraglider.

[Rlsau1]

I’m not a pilot, but I’ve been told that jet planes glide just a bit better than rocks.

[central_va]

Power-off landings have a steeper decent and may be a bit more alarming to some passengers. Not really.

[markman46]

because the useless idle rich in newport whined about the planes taking off and disturbing them, one reason MCAS El Toro was to be turned into an airport till irvine got their mits into it.