iPad Top of Descent Application

There have been many recent operational and technological advances to enable Flight Management System (FMS) equipped aircraft to perform Continuous Descent Approaches (CDA) or Optimized Profile Descents (OPD) which have the... [ view full abstract ]

There have been many recent operational and technological advances to enable Flight Management System (FMS) equipped aircraft to perform Continuous Descent Approaches (CDA) or Optimized Profile Descents (OPD) which have the benefits of reduced fuel burn and correspondingly reduced emissions, as well as lower community noise. Smaller commercial turboprop aircraft are typically not equipped with advanced FMS capability, but operators could benefit from a low-cost Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) based application to calculate an optimized Top of Descent point which when combined with a continuous descent will realize similar benefits as achieved by larger commercial aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 NG equipped with advanced Flight Management Systems. Operators will also benefit from reduced operational costs via lower block fuel burn. It is estimated that up to 2.4% in fuel savings can be realized in descent by more accurately calculating the Top of Descent point combined with a continuous descent.

Specific Range Solutions Ltd. has undertaken a project to develop a Top of Descent application for the Beechcraft 1900D commercial turboprop aircraft using the iPad as the hardware platform. Two versions of the app have been developed, one that uses GPS data and a non-GPS stand-alone version.

This paper outlines the development and validation effort required for the two versions of the application. Various aspects of the application’s design required detailed analysis including the aircraft performance model, GPS data acquisition, the integration of the effect of wind in the calculations and the design of the pilot interface.

The company has received financial support for research and development from the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP). Specific Range Solutions Ltd. is most grateful for the NRC’s assistance in funding this project.