> **Airborne Information for Lateral Separation (AILS)**

**Vernol Battiste, Walter Johnson, Terry Rager, NASA ARC; David Brown,
Diane Carpenter,**

**Eric Gardner, Nabil Hanania, Jerry Jones, Rod Ketchum, Dave Lambert,
lan Maclure, George Mitchell,**

**Craig Pires, Tom Prehm, Fritz Renema, Ghislain Saillant, Gary Uyehara,
ManTech**

> **Summary**
>
> This study examined the operational implementa­tion of an airborne
> system that would support Closely Spaced Parallel Approach (CSPA)
> operations at air­ports with parallel runways during Instrument
> Meteo­rological Conditions (IMC). Data analyses are in prog­ress.
> **Introduction**
>
> Several major airports in the United States have parallel runways that
> are in close proximity. When visual contact between aircraft is
> possible, capacity is greatly increased by having aircraft fly closely
> spaced parallel visual approaches. Under IMC, airports with runways
> closer than 4300 ft are required to revert to a single runway
> operation or to run dependent approaches, each greatly reducing the
> number of landing aircraft.
>
> This study investigated the utility and viability of a
> flight-deck-based display and alerting system that supports flight
> crews\' situational and traffic aware­ness during all phases of an ILS
> approach. The study also examined flight deck and ATC final control­ler
> roles and responses during dual independent par­allel approach
> operations at Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SEATAC).
>
> ![](media/image1.png){width="3.3in" height="2.359722222222222in"}
>
> *PFD depicting an armed AILS approach.*
>
> **Simulation**

This simulation was conducted with scenarios using the airspace in and
around SEATAC. This site was selected to evaluate the Airborne
Information for Lateral Separation (AILS) concept because the airport is
undergoing a new runway addition which will give the primary runways
approximately 2500 ft centerline separation. This configuration lends
itself

> to use of the AILS and CSPA technologies. Addition­ally, the FAA and
> managers at SEATAC were inter­ested in supporting and implementing the
> results of this study.
>
> The CVSRF\'s B747 full-mission simulator was adapted to accept AILS
> symbology on the PFD and to present CSPA information on the navigation
> display. Initial positions were created to allow the B747 simu­lator to
> enter the scenario at desired points. The SEATAC runway scene depicted
> in the B747 simula­tor\'s visual system was modified to represent the
> new runway. Additionally, a custom FMS navigation database was
> designed and loaded into the FMS for use with the new approaches.
>
> PAS was heavily modified to incorporate changes required to support
> traffic flow realism into SEATAC. The CVSRF\'s ATC Lab was configured
> to represent the SEATAC feeder sectors, departure sectors, a tower
> position, and adjacent airspace positions; all used PAS. A separate
> final approach controller posi­tion was created in an isolated area of
> the lab for controller evaluation. Based on controller estimates of
> normal traffic flow to dual parallel runways, a single controller
> handled 48 aircraft per hour.
>
> Additional video cameras, video splitters, routers, and other hardware
> were installed to collect audio and video data for both the B747
> flight deck crew and the isolated ATC position.
>
> Scenarios began with air traffic routed to runways 17 L/R. The B747
> simulator was released into this traffic flow via automated software
> programs that also \"paired\" conflict traffic for a subsequent
> \"blunder\" or breakout maneuver.

**Results**

The flight crew\'s assessment of the AILS concept was of primary
interest for this experiment. This included all aspects of the AILS
concept from system initialization and display status through the
responses of the flight crew and the aircraft systems to an intrud­ing or
\"blundering\" aircraft.

Flight crew workload and performance data were collected using both
objective and subjective assess­ment methodologies. Data analyses are in
progress.

> **Investigative Team** NASAARC ManTech SEATAC