Seattle Required Time-of-Arrival flight trials

Abstract

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted limited operational flight trials of Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) based upon the use of the Required Time-of-Arrival (RTA) function in modern Flight Management Systems (FMSs) October 25-31, 2010. The flight trials were conducted on the Olympia Six (OLM6) Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR) for the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport by select Alaska Airlines pilots flying Boeing 737 Next Generation (B737NG) aircraft. The operational concept was the assignment of the Scheduled Time-of-Arrival (STA) from the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) flow management tool as the RTA for aircraft to meet with improved delivery accuracy. In the trials, many aircraft successfully met assigned crossing times at OLM fix using the RTA function of their advanced FMS allowing fuel-efficient descents. This paper describes the results of the flight trial, indicating that the current generation of B737NG avionics can meet meter fix times generated by TMA within 20 seconds while honoring air traffic control (ATC) restrictions of speed and altitude given appropriate FMS configurations.