Design of a Flight Planning System to Reduce Persistent Contrail Formation Jhonnattan Diaz, David Gauntlett, Harris Tanveer, Po-Cheng Yeh Context Problem & Need Method of Analysis Projected Future Passenger Flight Demand The Issue: Persistent contrails may have a three to four times greater effect on the climate than carbon dioxide emissions. Persistent Contrail Formation Condition: Schmidt-Appleman Criterion Altitude: 29,000ft - 41,000ft Temperature: below -40℃ Humidity: RHi > 100% Ice content/ice capacity (Similar to RHw) RHi > 100% indicates Ice Super-Saturated Region (ISSR) Problem Statement Contrails create another layer to global heating Currently lack of system negotiating stakeholders’ needs in order to provide flight paths avoiding ISSR while accounting for tradeoffs between Need Statement Need to provide FAA and AOC with a Decision Support System to estimate amount of fuel consumed, miles of contrails formed, and flight duration. Design of Experiment Control: Great Circle Distance (GCD) Independent Variable: Airway Flight Path Contrail Avoidance Path Altitude Adjustment Horizontal Adjustment Combination Adjustment Design Alternatives 1. Contrail Avoidance Flight Path 1.1 Vertical Maneuvering 1.2 Horizontal Maneuvering 1.3 Combination Maneuvering 2. Airway Routes 3. Great Circle Distance (GCD) Dependent Variable: Fuel consumption Miles flown through ISSR Flight Duration CO2 Emissions Palikonda, Rabindra. “Contrail climatology over the USA from MODIS and AVHRR data.” 2002. Results Results Conclusions & Future Work Sponsors: Center for Air Transportation Systems Research (CATSR), Mr. Akshay Belle Metron Aviation, Dr. Terry Thompson System Engineering & Operations Research, George Mason University