Terminal Manoeuvre Area Effects on Aircraft Engine Dust Ingestion †

Abstract

Aircraft manufacturers and airlines invest large amounts of money into making air travel more sustainable to reduce the effects of global warming. Extending the in-service life of aeroengines through route optimisation is one method to contribute to the sustainability of aviation. Atmospheric dust ingestion leads to premature failure of engine components, increased fuel burn due to loss of efficiency, and shortened maintenance intervals. A methodology that takes a fleet-based approach to quantify the dust exposure experienced by aircraft, primarily operated within the Persian Gulf, has been developed to investigate opportunities for mitigating engine damage by atmospheric dust. The variations in dust loading experienced by a Middle Eastern Low-Cost Carrier’s (LCC) fleet were analysed by combining the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Services (CAMS) dust reanalysis dataset with the OpenSky Network’s open-source trajectory data pool. It is found that runway orientation and patterns of traffic arrival have a direct bearing on the amount of dust encountered by aircraft engines.