Research & Development
» Damage Tolerance
» The Green Rotorcraft
» Clean Sky Third Call for Proposals
» GRC1 – Innovative Rotor Blades
» GRC2 – Drag Reduction of Airframe and Non Lifting Rotating Systems
» GRC3 – Integration of Innovative Electrical Systems
» GRC4 – Integration of a Diesel Engine on a Light Helicopter
» GRC5 – Environment-Friendly Flight Paths
» GRC6 – Eco-Design for Rotorcraft
» GRC7 – Technology Evaluator for Rotorcraft
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Environment-Friendly Flight Paths
The environmental impact for the helicopter flight is mainly due to the noise and the pollution emission with particular reference to CO₂ and NOx production. The main purpose of this subprogramme is to get optimized flight paths and mission profiles in order to minimise the annoyance of rotorcraft (footprint noise reduction) during flight operations near the ground and taking care of air navigation (ATM) and helicopter performance constraints.
The expected fast growth of rotorcraft operations to and from helipads, part of them being located within densely populated areas (hospitals, vertiports) and airports requires a development of new procedures to reduce the noise footprint and the emission pollution.
When moving to and from airports, shorter IFR (instrumented flight rules) routes which do not interfere with aircraft traffic will be developed and demonstrated taking advantage of the intrinsic agility of rotorcraft and integrating the requirements for noise abatement.
Concerning operations to and from helipads, the main goal is the implementation of noise abatement flight paths, featuring multi-segmented and curved approach/take-off routes with variable airspeed and rate of climb/descent profiles and with appropriate obstacle protection, to be developed and tested in a representative urban environment. This work will allow a noise footprint reduction of 50% (impacted area) for most helicopters types flying throughout Europe.
Appropriate code will be used to define the helicopter optimised trajectories, minimising the noise perceived on ground during departure, low level flight, approach and landing.
The greener mission profiles will be chosen based on helicopters flight parameters such as speed, engine torque to minimise the fuel consumption, and the NOx and CO₂ emissions.
The above analysis will be implemented also for the tiltrotor aircraft configurations to minimise the noise footprint during approach and departure, using its ability to adapt the schedule of nacelle and wing tilt angles within the conversion corridor.
The expected fast growth of rotorcraft operations to and from helipads, part of them being located within densely populated areas (hospitals, vertiports) and airports requires a development of new procedures to reduce the noise footprint and the emission pollution.
When moving to and from airports, shorter IFR (instrumented flight rules) routes which do not interfere with aircraft traffic will be developed and demonstrated taking advantage of the intrinsic agility of rotorcraft and integrating the requirements for noise abatement.
Concerning operations to and from helipads, the main goal is the implementation of noise abatement flight paths, featuring multi-segmented and curved approach/take-off routes with variable airspeed and rate of climb/descent profiles and with appropriate obstacle protection, to be developed and tested in a representative urban environment. This work will allow a noise footprint reduction of 50% (impacted area) for most helicopters types flying throughout Europe.
Appropriate code will be used to define the helicopter optimised trajectories, minimising the noise perceived on ground during departure, low level flight, approach and landing.
The greener mission profiles will be chosen based on helicopters flight parameters such as speed, engine torque to minimise the fuel consumption, and the NOx and CO₂ emissions.
The above analysis will be implemented also for the tiltrotor aircraft configurations to minimise the noise footprint during approach and departure, using its ability to adapt the schedule of nacelle and wing tilt angles within the conversion corridor.
AgustaWestland is the leader and is highly involved in the overall activities aiming to obtain greener mission profiles. At the end of the programme AgustaWestland will contribute to demonstrate the new technologies with the validation of the On-Board Management of Low Noise Flight Paths. In addition, final flight tests demonstration on real area such as airports, heliports and confined helipads, will be also performed.
Tiltrotor specific aspects will be further approached to assess the noise impact using both advanced powered model for wind tunnel testing and, if possible, through specific flight testing.