Heavies flying in formation to save fuel
Aerospace Daily: Engineers See Fuel Savings From Formation Flight
By Jefferson Morris/Aerospace Daily
26-Nov-2001 3:53 PM U.S. EST
NASA is partnering with engineers at Boeing and UCLA to help aircraft mimic a practice migratory birds have perfected over millions of years -- flying in formation to reduce drag and conserve energy.
Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF), if proven, could eventually enable fuel savings as high as $2 million per large commercial transport aircraft per year, according to AFF Project Manager Gerard Schkolnik of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.
In fact, the bigger the aircraft, "the bigger the savings," Schkolnik told The DAILY. In the case of a 777 flying a transcontinental route, "for each trailing aircraft in formation you would save anywhere between half a million to two million dollars per trailing aircraft," he said.
"The emissions reductions are staggering as well -- on the order of 10 million pounds of CO2 reductions, and about 100,000 pounds of NOX reductions per trailing aircraft per year," he added.
The principle of AFF seems simple.
"Any bird or a trailing aircraft flying in formation experiences a drag reduction by taking advantage of energy which is shed by the lead aircraft or bird, via the wingtip vortex," explained Schkolnik. "What the trailing aircraft or trailing bird is trying to do is fly in a position that essentially generates an upwash, which then reduces the amount of energy that is required by the aircraft or bird to be able to maintain position."