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Safety is one of the important topics in the field of civil aviation. Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) is one of important components in aircraft, which provides electrical power and compressed air for aircraft. The hazards in APU are prone to cause economic losses and even casualties. So, actively identifying the hazards in APU before an accident occurs is necessary. In this paper, a Hybrid Deep Neural Network (HDNN) based on multi-time window convolutional neural network-Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (CNN-BiLSTM) neural network is proposed for active hazard identification of APU in civil aircraft. In order to identify the risks caused by different types of failures, the proposed HDNN simultaneously integrates three CNN-BiLSTM basic models with different time window sizes in parallel by using a fully connected neural network. The CNN-BiLSTM basic model can automatically extract features representing the system state from the input data and learn the time information of irregular trends in the time series data. Nine benchmark models are compared with the proposed HDNN. The comparison results show that the proposed HDNN has the highest identification accuracy. The HDNN has the most stable identification performance for data with imbalanced samples.

COVID-19 pandemic, which has announced to the world from Wuhan in China, has naturally formed economic shocks in air transport. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, governments closed international borders and almost all airlines have drastically reduced their available seat capacity. The aim of this study is to examine the early and late responses such as financial decisions, managing and recovering flights, human resources management and hygiene measures taken by Turkish air carriers in a crisis environment during pandemics and economic shocks. Turkish Civil Aviation Industry (TCAI) is analyzed pre and during COVID-19 in terms of market overview. Finally, we also present current and future directions, and provide examples of the reactions from Turkish and global carriers. The results show that TCAI is heavily impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic and the market is re-shaping with fewer carriers in the recovery phase. Airline staff faced significant salary decreases in TCAI due to revenue decrease of the airlines. Cargo-only flights are increased crucially in the TCAI, although passenger figures are dropped.

Although previous studies explored the relationship between high-speed rail (HSR) and civil aviation, most of them focus on the negative effects of HSR on civil aviation, including the competition between them. However, studies exploring the positive effects of HSR on civil aviation remain limited. This study demonstrates that a high-speed rail network (HSRN) has a spatiotemporally complementary effect (CE) on the robustness of aviation networks (ANs) against different types of hazards. First, we describe the AN as a multiple weighted network with the CE of HSRN based on the operating routes of flights and trains, instead of an independent network. Then, a novel framework for assessing the robustness of AN is developed considering travel time and service frequency as its metrics and considering the coverage distance of the CE. We find that the CE can obviously reduce the loss of the AN’s performance under various disaster scenarios by analyzing the robustness of the AN of Mainland China complemented by HSRN; different levels of CE have different effects on the robustness of AN. Besides the airports located in Eastern China, some non-hub airports such as Changzhou, Wuxi, and Shaorao, are easily complemented by the HSRN. Further, the CE at different times exerts different effects on the robustness of AN, which reach a peak at 16:00 and 07:00. These findings can help broaden the ideas and approaches for enhancing the robustness of the AN.

Orbital congestion, contestation and competition are on the rise, and space activities are expected to align with treaties, arrangements, and guidelines elaborated at a time when the space ecosystem was simpler - and it is becoming more complex. To cope efficiently with this changing situation, at a time when space systems have become an indispensable enabler for an ever-increasing range of socio-economic activities, new rules of the road are necessary. Indeed, these should ensure the sustained stability and security of the space environment, providing norms and standards beyond transparency and confidence building measures, laying the ground for the founding elements of a space traffic coordination (management?). Hence, for us to be dependent on a reliable space-enabled information flow will require a significant decrease of their vulnerability; protection as well as “fail safe” are becoming the chief concerns. This paper will first review the current legal and regulatory provisions under which space activities take place, pointing out some limitations of the international dialogue, which is quite complex, anarchic, and with no clear global leadership, complicated by the dual use (civil and military) of space. Moreover, enforcement appears to be ineffective. It will then consider new public, as well as private, initiatives that are underway, evaluating the robustness of their foundations. Possible avenues are proposed in support of the most recent prominent initiatives, including the possibility for an international agreement on standards and behaviours, or an international civil space organisation inspired by the International Civil Aviation Organisation - ICAO. Emphasis will be placed on the urgency of bringing together these initiatives and processes under a common umbrella, or at least to achieve the convergence of a set of rules noting that international hard law provisions are far reaching. A step-by-step approach is suggested, addressing immediate, mid-term, and long-term actions to provide a stable space environment favourable to LEO large constellations, in-orbit refuelling/repairing, active debris removal, human commercial space-flight, cis-lunar/interplanetary traffic, space resources exploitation, and security/defence operations.

This study empirically investigates the determinants and drivers of Hong Kong's inbound tourism using data from January 2019 to December 2020. Five of Hong Kong's major regional tourism source markets are selected: Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea. Our empirical results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant negative impacts on the tourism and aviation sectors in Hong Kong that are asymmetric in the source and destination countries. In addition, international travel control imposed by the Hong Kong government is often defined according to the pandemic situation in the tourism source countries, Hong Kong's inbound visitor volume is also significantly affected by the Hong Kong government's response to COVID-19 infection cases in the tourism origin markets. Our empirical results also suggest that the flying distance to Hong Kong and high tourism costs in Hong Kong reduced visitor arrival demand, whereas increased aviation services and tourism market potential contributed to tourism growth. These results suggest that the tourism industry and government agencies should cooperate to recover when the pandemic is under good control, so that Hong Kong will be regarded as a preferred and safe destination for travelers and visitors. Our study emphasizes the complementarity between pandemic control and tourism recovery. Pandemic control involves extra tests and quarantine requirements on passengers, more vigorous border control. These operational and associated financial requirements call for government support to the tourism and aviation sectors in the early stage of recovery to create a positive feedback loop.

Hydrogen powered gas turbine propulsion will play a central role in the decarbonisation of civil aviation. A key challenge is the integration of large liquid hydrogen tanks into the aircraft, given the low density of liquid hydrogen. Hydrogen offers a quarter of the energy content, per unit volume and one third of the fuel weight, when compared to a conventional fuel. Optimising tank weight is seen as key to aircraft usefulness. A detailed evaluation of tanks for civil aviation is presented here, covering a very wide range of sizes and design solutions. For passenger air transport, if the choice is made not to vent, dormancy time (the time the tank can be allowed to operate without vapour or important fuel extraction) becomes a key design parameter. This paper highlights the interdependence of Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure and the amount of insulation with heating and venting, considering the influence of dormancy time. The resulting tank gravimetric efficiency is presented for cylindrical tanks with hemispheric ends (a very likely choice for tank design). Notwithstanding conservative analysis, tank gravimetric efficiencies of 65–70% can be achieved. This permits combined fuel and tank weights that are less than half of those of current aircraft. The issue that then becomes critical is the resulting large tank and aircraft volume.

A 3D digital model of a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is obtained by using the method of scanning reverse modeling and joint mapping. A numerical simulation of a small UAV strikes on rotary engine blades, presented in this paper, was performed with a Transient Nonlinear Finite Element code PAM-CRASH software. A test of motor strike on plate was developed and the dynamic response of the plate were obtained to validate the numerical simulation method of a UAV strike on blades. Based on this, dynamic damage response caused by UAV on the engine blades were studied. It is indicated that the impact process between the UAV and a single blade can be divided into two typical stages: cutting and impact. Cutting mainly leads to the failure of the leading edge material, and impact mainly leads to the plastic deformation of the blade. At the same time, it is compared with the damage impacted by bird with the same mass. For the same mass of bird and UAV, the damage caused by UAV striking fan blade is more serious, and 1.345 kg UAV striking fan blade of typical civil aviation engine is enough to cause damage to flight safety.

Crew safety is of paramount importance for future human exploratory spaceflight. In order to ensure optimum safety standards, the design criteria for this new generation of spacecraft must be matured, such as the level of crew safety required. This will be guided by an adequate implementation of the safety assessment process, which is under continuous improvement. This should be done in cooperation with international partners, whilst considering expected project constraints such as cost and time. Through a hazard control process assessment, several risk mitigation strategies may be found suitable to achieve both an acceptable level of crew safety and mission success. Such an assessment thus requires both: elaboration of a regulated safety assessment process, that is shared and approved worldwide, and definition of safety criteria that are required to fulfil the mission objectives, and need to be approved by a Certification Authority. This paper defines what are the reliability and safety standards used for current low earth orbit human spaceflight operations through a failure conditions safety assessment, applying it to crew transportation systems and taking into account the mission aims. It will evaluate existing standardized safety and regulatory processes that are in place for civil aviation (ARP 4761, ARP 4754A, AC 25.1309), which are largely accepted as being a premier example of industry safety standards, and assess how it could be extrapolated and adapted to ensure similar safety standards in future human space exploration missions. The civil aviation process presents commonalities in terms of methods for conducting a safety assessment, that are expandable to space exploration. This paper describes the related transfer function from civil aviation to space exploration (ISS, Moon and Mars) as a stepping stone to reach an international consensus to be targeted by the Space Agencies to ensure the crew a safe journey and return to Earth.

Air traffic control simulation system has become familiar in developed countries. Moreover, in Vietnam, the demand for air traffic control systems is increasing due to the boom of the civil aviation industry. However, there is any research or development on this system. The Northern and Southern Flight Management Companies all import control simulation systems at a very high cost. Many other flight management companies also have a high demand for this system, including military units. This demand prompted the research team to find a solution to build an air traffic control simulation system in accordance with domestic training needs. Based on individual open source simulation software with some basic features, the team has successfully built an aerodrome control simulation system that recreates the visually appealing 3D visualization used in training of air traffic controllers.

In this paper an approach to combine the basic concept of Digital Twins with research in product family development applied to civil aviation is presented. Concomitant benefits but also challenges regarding the management of information are introduced as well as the possibility to solve them by using the tools and methods of Model-Based Systems Engineering. As this conjoins three different topics, the basics of each of them in reference to the approach is introduced before they are subsequently combined. In the process, respective past and future research is presented as well.

Civil aviation, in the process of implementing its target function for organizing air transport, faces, among other things, the problem of ensuring the safety of these transportations. Security is a multi – valued concept that characterizes the security and low level of risk for a person, society, or any other subjects, objects, or their systems. In civil aviation, there are many areas of applicability of this concept that differ in their physical meaning and subject content. One of these areas is aviation security, which protects civil aviation from illegal interference in its activities. Currently, aviation security as a scientific field includes a set of scientific and methodological tools for solving problems that can be classified as poorly formalized. This is determined by a number of paradoxes that arise within the aviation security system. The formal description of these paradoxes is a rather complex and multidimensional problem that requires the use of complex, often heuristic, methods to solve it. The paper attempts to obtain a formal description of some of the paradoxes, which will allow the use of mathematical modeling methods for the study of aviation security systems.

In this paper the concept of the modular lightweight design as a method to combine the opposing views of lightweight-optimized- and modular product family-design is presented. Therefor specifics of these views are presented based on the use-case of civil aviation and aircraft cabins. Subsequently the concept of modular lightweight design and its concomitant benefits and challenges are outlined as well as the Model-Based Systems Engineering to assist the implementation of the approach into the product development processes for developing the modular hybrid design.

The air transportation industry is one big network that is expected to grow continuously, and Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region as of 2018 data. We apply weighted network analysis to explore the key network characteristics of the Asian international passenger aviation market in 2014 and 2018. For the analysis, networks are constructed based on international passengers' origin-destination pair data from 28 Asian airlines in 2014 and 2018. Previously published social network analysis (SNA) on the air transportation network largely used unweighted centrality metrics, whereas the actual situation is a weighted network. We implement Mean Associations (MA), Triangle Betweenness Centrality (TBC), and Weighted PageRank (WPR), as new weighted centrality metrics, to effectively reflect actual passenger traffic among airports beyond simple connections. Our weighted network analysis indicates that SIN, ICN, HKG, NRT, MNL, BKK, TPE, HND, PEK, and KUL are the top-ranked hub airports, followed by SGN, PVG, CAN, DEL, SYD, KIX and CGK, and that the low-cost carriers have almost fully developed a ‘hub-and-spoke’ structure over the 4-year study period and are increasing their impact on the centrality of airports in the region.

Civil aviation is a crucial transportation mode, which plays a crucial role in air pollution. This study investigates the effect of aircraft frequency on the PM2.5 level. This study evaluates whether flight frequency has a significant positive effect on air pollution based on the monthly data of aircraft movements from 59 major airports in China from January 2014 to December 2017 by employing the two-way fixed effects model. The effect occurs mainly through two channels, namely, the aircraft and the emissions while commuting to the airports. The former is significantly positive, whereas the latter is significantly negative. This study utilizes the spatial econometric methods to consider the spatial correlation. Results show that after considering the spatial correlation, the aircraft frequency also has a substantial effect on the PM2.5 level. These results indicate that decision-makers should provide attention to air pollution driven by aircraft and emissions while commuting to the airport. This study also calls for the concern of the spatial correlation in the reduction of air pollution. Moreover, the study provides a distinctive contribution to the relative field by identifying the influence of each channel and considering the spatial correlation.

Most indicators of airport performance found in the literature evaluate the quality of the services and the maintenance of operational safety levels, but only a few studies take into account environmental issues. This study presents the experience of the Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Enterprise (Infraero) in the implementation and assessment of the Infraero Environmental Performance Index (IEPI), formed by 25 indicators distributed into 10 environmental dimensions. The index was applied to 54 Brazilian public airports administrated by Infraero, between 2017 and 2019. The index was also applied to groups of airports according to their category, defined by the Brazilian Civil Aviation Regulation (RBAC) no 153 (IEPIclass), and the biome in which the airport is inserted (IEPIbiome). The IEPI presented an average annual evolution of 5.0 % and ended the assessed period at 74.8 %, showing a significant improvement in the environmental quality of the airports in the assessed period. Large airports (Class IV) presented high environmental performance (IEPIclass = 94 %), showing the importance of having staff dedicated to address environmental issues in airports. With respect to the biomes, Pantanal presented the best result (IEPIbiome = 84 %). The index applied to different biomes presents an innovative approach to relate the environmental performance to the ecosystem where the airport is located, but still need improvement to properly reflect the specific characteristics of each of these ecosystems. There is still a long way to go regarding the implementation and monitoring of environmental performance indicators in airports, but the Infraero experience in the application of the IEPI shows a path that can be followed and improved. We believe that the IEPI is an important tool for airport management and decision making, since it provides a simple and quick portrait of the status of environmental actions and evidences the areas which require more attention.

While fuel regulations traditionally rely on a prescriptive safety margin approach that includes a significant buffer for fuel loadings, the current enhancements in computational power and understanding of in-flight uncertainties allow for the implementation of a performance-based approach. A performance-based approach is a risk-assessed fuel uplift decision dependent on historical performance and is becoming increasingly plausible and recommended by modern civil aviation authorities. This paper investigates the evolution of fuel planning policies and explores the potential integration of current research pertaining to performance-based fuel policy-making. We consolidate the developments of three research areas - fuel consumption estimation, in-flight uncertainty quantification and decision analysis, and provide insight for regulators and airline operators in identifying potential transformation towards more efficient operations. Three future research directions in (1) risk assessment on fuel uplift decision, (2) uncertainty quantification and propagation and (3) policy assessment and evaluation, are suggested to assist policy-makers in efficiently implementing a performance-based fuel policy.

The regulation of safety in civil aviation in Europe has become subject to a process of juridification. The role of law in the pro-active perspective of European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) governance, requires understanding how hard law and soft law interact. The rationality of regulatory systems can be regarded as the normative core from which different normative claims (norms) are deduced depending on the conditions applying to particular domains. Safety surrounding aviation professionals’ work practices is one such condition where the influential ‘knowledge society’ of safety science focuses on risk and human error in aviation. This article addresses the safety scholarship behind occurrence reporting and the ‘just culture’ concept which have arguably shaped the content and form of current civil aviation regulation in Europe. The article points to the flexible utilization of hard and soft law in aviation which innovatively upholds the market based core rationality of the European Union.

The civil aviation industry of India has arisen as one of the world’s fastest growing industries. In June 2016, the Ministry of Civil Aviation in India unveiled the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP). One of the objectives of NCAP was on the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), also known as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) which translates as ‘let the common citizen of the country fly’, and aims to make flying affordable for the masses, promote tourism, increase employment opportunities and promote balanced regional economic growth. Even though the national and international aviation market is thriving, the regional market in India is underdeveloped. From the RCS draft unveiled in December 2016, it is clear that a lot of work is done on coming up with a scheme which encourages airlines to start flights to remote destinations, to airports which are right now lying unused and to those airports where there are few flights but not adequate in number. The present paper attempts to elucidate the business model, the impact of RCS on the aviation sector, various opportunities and challenges of the scheme. Performance analysis of Indian airports, before and after the scheme is done using Data Envelopment Analysis. There is limited research within the area of air transport in remote regions in India, and hence a variety of sources from news articles, government documents, discussion papers, presentations, and reports are used. While the RCS is a novel idea to promote regional connectivity, its success will depend entirely on traffic demand and cooperation from various stakeholders including governments, local bodies and airport operators. The paper reveals that RCS is a step in the right direction unless the implementation is carefully monitored.

Air transport contributes to anthropogenic global warming by emitting CO2 and other climate relevant species like NOx, H2O and soot, as well as contrails and contrail cirrus. Even though air transport’s total contribution to global warming is estimated to be relatively small, this share is expected to increase in the future due to the enormous growth rates in the sector. While we acknowledge that the short-term decline caused by Covid-19 is unprecedented in its extent, we do not expect a structural interruption caused by COVID-19 in the long-term, but a continuation of trends that have been already present before (Scheelhaase et al., 2020). To limit aviation’s CO2 emissions, the ‘Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation’ (CORSIA) was agreed at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly in 2016. CORSIA is the first global scheme for the limitation of aviation’s CO2 emissions. However, criticism has been raised concerning CORSIA’s environmental ambitiousness. This paper investigates CORSIA’s environmental benefits as well as options for improving the scheme’s environmental impact. Based on our emission modelling results for the global airline schedules, recommendations for technical experts and policymakers are provided. Our results indicate that an effective option for improving the scope of CORSIA would be a voluntary inclusion of domestic CO2 emissions of the ten largest domestic aviation markets (USA, China, Japan, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Russia, Australia and Canada, as well as the EU,). Domestic flights are those within a country including overseas territories, if applicable. This way, in the long run, an additional 50% of CO2 p.a. could be compensated, without significant added bureaucracy for most airlines, and CORSIA’s environmental performance would be improved massively. This approach could be realized relatively easily since the decision on a voluntary inclusion of domestic aviation in CORSIA is at the sovereignty of each state.

To reduce aviation carbon emissions, the International Civil Aviation Organization initiated the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), which will take effect in 2021. In response, airlines have taken measures through various means, including the use of sustainable fuels. This article investigates the potential effects of a CORSIA-type policy when implemented in the United States. The study uses a combined model of airlines operations and multi-feedstock sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) to represent decisions of several actors, such as farmers, bio-refineries, airlines, and policymakers. The research employed a life-cycle assessment and Monte-Carlo simulation to evaluate two policy scenarios on the amount of SAF consumption and the resulting emissions. Implementing a CORSIA-type policy could stimulate the demand and production of SAFs, while also reducing air travel growth by increasing airfare. As a result of this combined effect and improved aircraft technology, there is a 3.5% chance that the U.S. airlines industry can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37.5–50% by the year 2050, compared to the 2005 emission levels. Despite a projected increase in air travel in 2050 by a factor of 2.75 (the median value), the emissions in 2050 are expected to rise to only 120% (the median value) of the 2005 level. The price of petroleum-based aviation fuels followed by the growth rate of the carbon price are the two most important factors to determine whether the CORSIA-type policy would achieve the emission reduction target.

The significant increase of manned private space activities brings to the fore the discussion about the appropriateness and the feasibility of a ‘one-stop shop’ space safety regulation. At national level, both outer space and aviation authorities could be competent for the safety of private manned spaceflights. At international level, there seems to be no common understanding on safety requirements for manned spaceflights, contrary to what is in force in aviation. Thus, to comply with the applicable safety requirements a private operator may have to adhere to a plurality of national and international safety provisions, the scope of which is often uncertain, but the oversight of which belongs often to different authorities. This paper examines the reasons for such situation and proposes possible solutions. One cause is regulatory and oversight “inertia” and habit, i.e. national agencies are used to have specific competencies for specific issues and encounter difficulties in adjusting to new situations either by relinquishing or assuming new responsibilities. Another reason, at both national and international level, is the traditional dichotomy between the fields of aviation and space law, which have been developed independent from each other, based on different principles and situations. At international level, despite the freedom of use of outer space, States often act unilaterally and connect outer space with national security, which makes them reluctant to delimitate outer space and entrust an international organization with promulgation of safety regulations. In addition, private manned spaceflights are just starting to develop their potential, which means that so far uniform regulation appeared to be no real necessity. To overcome these issues, at national level, a mixed aviation and space (aerospace) authority could be created, which would combine expertise from both fields. Such authority should be competent for all flights into/from outer space (orbital, suborbital, deep space) and in airspace. Furthermore, new rules applicable to all spaceflights, irrespective of their specifications, could be developed, or existing rules could be amended to accommodate spaceflights. At international level, such a task would require either the expansion of regulatory authority of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to spaceflights or the institutional upgrading of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) to an autonomous international spaceflight organization, with powers to issue uniform technical safety standards. Ultimately, an international organization competent for all flights should be created. In the meantime, private international initiatives in the form of private certification standards are expected to play a key role.

In response to the rapid growth in air transport CO2 emissions, International Civil Aviation Organization proposed the “Carbon Neutral Growth from 2020” strategy (CNG2020 strategy). The total CO2 emission reduction is investigated for 28 airlines during 2021–2023 under CNG2020 strategy based on the predicted data by BP neural network. A Network Weak Disposability DEA model is applied to calculate the airlines’ maximum desirable outputs when the inputs are fixed and the undesirable outputs are weakly disposed. Then carbon trading is added into the model, which can obtain the maximum desirable outputs when taking into account of carbon trading. Firstly, the total max Total Revenue of these 28 airlines is much larger than the total original Total Revenue gotten by BP neural network. Secondly, for these 28 airlines, the maximum expandable Total Revenue and Greenhouse gases emission reduction can be achieved simultaneously under CNG2020 strategy, but the Greenhouse gases emission reduction proportion is too small to satisfy the requirements of CNG2020 strategy.

Civil aviation faces great challenges because of its robust projected future growth and potential adverse environmental effects. The classical Tube-And-Wing (TAW) configuration following the Cayley’s design principles has been optimized to the architecture’s limit, which can hardly satisfy the further requirements on green aviation. By past decades’ investigations the Blended-Wing-Body (BWB) concept has emerged as a potential solution, which can simultaneously fulfill metrics of noise, emission and fuel burn. The purpose of the present work is to analyze the developments of critical technologies for BWB conceptual design from a historical perspective of technology progress. It was found that the high aerodynamic efficiency of BWB aircraft can be well scaled by the mean aerodynamic chord and wetted aspect ratio, and should be realized with the trade-offs among stability and control and low-speed performance. The structure concepts of non-cylinder pressurized cabin are of high risks on weight prediction and weight penalty. A static stability criterion is recommended and further clear and adequate criteria are required by the evaluations of flying and handling qualities. The difficulties of propulsion and airframe integration are analyzed. The energy to revenue work ratios of well-developed BWB configurations are compared, which are 31.5% and 40% better than that of TAW, using state-of-art engine technology and future engine technology, respectively. Finally, further study aspects are advocated. Keywords: Aerodynamic design, Bended-wing-body, Propulsion Airframe Integration, Stability and control, Structure

Civil aircraft emissions during landing and takeoff (LTO) are important air pollutant sources, but have been given insufficient attention in China. Accurate estimation of these emissions is limited by a lack of important parameters, such as detailed flight information and the dynamic time in climb and approach modes during LTO that are dependent on mixing layer height (MLH). We developed a flight-time/flight-height relationship using real-time height information in Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay data, and then calculated the actual time for each flight in those two modes based on the actual MLH from meteorological observation. Hourly emissions of civil aircraft were then estimated based on the database of each flight. Total emissions of NOx, CO, SO2, HC and PM from LTO cycles of domestic flights in China during 2015 were 37.78 Gg, 30.25 Gg, 12.00 Gg, 2.38 Gg and 0.75 Gg, respectively. Substantial monthly, daily and hourly variations of emissions due to the flight schedule as well as MLH were calculated. Large differences were found between the new estimation and emissions calculated based on traditional method. Compared with the emissions estimated based on default parameter obtained from International Civil Aviation Organization, the average difference of annual emission among airports with new estimation for various pollutants was approximately 30.3% in climb mode and 81.4% in approach mode; compared with the emissions estimated based on the method proposed by China National Guide, the average difference of annual emission among airports were 37.4% (NOx), 8.4% (CO), 73.1% (HC) and 58.1% (PM) during LTO process. The monthly airport-specific emissions per LTO were also proposed. These can provide necessary and meaningful support for the revision of the values in National Guide.

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the moderating effects of the multi-group in the relationship safety management system (SMS) and human factors (HF) and civil aviation safety (CAS) performance and to highlight the impact of safety climate factors on the safety performance. This investigation used the structural equation modelling approach to explore the factors that significantly affect the CAS performance. Specifically, this study is based on the data from 733 safety experts of aviation. Moderating effects of multi-group were originated in the relationship between the SMS and HF and CAS performance. This study provides civil aviation sector with valuable information for designing effective strategies to improve CAS performance.

This paper attempts to measure an impact of various variables on the operational expense of Indian Airlines using data available with Directorate General of Civil Aviation for the period of 10 years, i.e. from the year 2007–2008 to the year 2016–2017. In this paper, five variables i.e. average seats per kilometer, average payload, average stage length, average fuel price and ownership of an airline were regressed to expense/revenue passenger kilometer to measure their contribution towards airlines total operational cost. The regression model developed from conceptual framework provides strong evidence that these selected variables have significant influence over the operational expense of an airline. It is observed that these variables dominate airline operating expense and together these variables explain 80.9% of the model. Hence, consideration and management of these variables can improve operational cost efficiency of airlines making them sustainable in a competitive market.

Fatigue is one of the most important issues since it is considered to be a potential risk factor for human error. Most research related to human fatigue in the aviation industry targets pilots, yet air traffic controllers also experience elevated levels of fatigue that affects aviation safety. Despite this, fatigue is often ignored in literature, as it is a mental and physical status that is difficult to measure. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced the concept of the Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) in Annex 6 in 2011, which provides suggestions to reduce aircrew fatigue. In 2016, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO), ICAO, and the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA) published the Fatigue Management Guide for Air Traffic Service Providers and for the first time proposed recommendations for air traffic controllers (ATCs) to address this issue. Based on the management guide, this research used the Samn-Perelli fatigue scale to measure air traffic controllers' fatigue levels in an international aerodrome control tower in Taiwan. The results indicated that there were significant differences between day/night shifts, time periods (shift start time, before break time, after break time, and shift end time), and various work schedules. The results also revealed the importance of the timing of the breaks and time on task when arranging work schedules. This research contributes to aviation safety by investigating ATCs' fatigue levels in current work shifts, thereby helping related units to improve and adjust shift schedules in order to reduce the risks related to fatigue.

The paper describes a model developed in the Brazilian National Secretariat of Civil Aviation for predicting the movement of passengers by commercial flights at airports, consolidating two types of demand, a primary, captive demand, that exclusively utilizes the airport of the respective Airport Zone (ZA), as long as it supplies flights. To that primary demand, we add a secondary demand, which is residual and more volatile, depending on the distance from the airport with commercial flights. Four examples are presented showing the results of the model in relation to the competition between airports and catchment areas.

The classical Power Average (PA) operator proposed by Yager implicitly restricts itself to an assumption that unduly high or low arguments are conceived as “false” or “biased” perceptions, thereby being assigned smaller weights for aggregation. However, on many occasions, these kinds of inputs to a great extent may be of significant importance to the accuracy of the aggregation outcomes, particularly when different sources of information are taken into consideration. The primary purpose of this paper is to adapt the PA operator to model generally various decision making settings where outliers are treated with different aggregation significance. The concept of Extended PA (EPA) operator is therefore proposed to effectively capture heterogeneous interrelationships among aggregation inputs. Several desirable properties of the EPA operator are investigated and their usefulness in practical decision making problems is highlighted. The choice of appropriate values for parameters associated with the EPA operator is likewise investigated. The proposed EPA operator is applied to develop an approach for multi-attribute decision making in which the interrelationships among the attributes and the inputs themselves are simultaneously taken into consideration. Finally, a case study in emergency response plan selection of civil aviation and a comparison analysis are provided to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

As the civil aviation industry moves toward to the more-electric-aircraft (MEA) concept, environmental control system (ECS), one of the largest power consumption non-propulsive systems for civil aircraft, converts its power extraction source from bleed air to electric power and thus will introduce new challenges on ECS's design and operation management schemes. One of these challenges is for the power optimization of ECS, which was an optimal sizing and planning problem for ECS air circulation pack, but under the MEA environment will be transformed into a complex power scheduling problem integrated with the constraints on the controllable electrical power generation and varying thermal power demands determined by the aircraft's flight profiles. In this paper, we propose a complete mathematical optimization formulation for the power optimization of ECS for MEA and cast it as a non-convex nonlinear program. We provide a solution approach to tackle this problem based on a combination of Benders decomposition method and the successively linear programming technique and illustrate the capabilities of the proposed solution approach on an aircraft's ECS under the civil MEA environment. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution approach in terms of the associated computational outcomes.

Three cases of failure analysis (aircraft landing gear, cast railway wheel and unalloyed Ti orthopaedic implant) representing three different industry sectors were selected to compose a critical study of their respective regulatory agency in Brazil. The implementation and achieved transparency of the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) for the investigation of aircraft accidents are recognized as state of the art and is consistent with the economic importance of this sector for the country. In contrast, the transparency of the National Land Transportation Agency (ANTT) for the investigation of railway accidents is considered to be deficient. The current organization and transparency of the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) for the investigation and prevention of the failure of orthopaedic implants can be criticised as severely flawed. This agency should take immediate actions to adopt the compulsory notification and investigation of the failures of orthopaedic implants and implement a more reliable certification procedure of implants to ensure the protection of the Brazilian health care patients. The transparency of information might play an important role in the trade-off between the independence and the political control of the regulatory agencies in Brazil. In this sense, the publication of conducted failure analyses and general access to their reported findings are seen as a valuable driving force to improve the impact the regulatory agencies have on the general welfare of the country.

The present study helps to understand the mediation effect on workplace issues and career growth perspective of women employees in the Indian airline industry. The paper comprehends to gauge the relationship of different factors with the career perspective of women. Exploratory research design has been used in this research. The study includes the detailed analysis of 562 responses collected from women employees working at all hierarchy levels of the six major Indian civil airlines namely Air India, Indigo, Spice Jet, Go Air, Air Asia and Vistara with the help of a structured questionnaire. It is very essential to understand the workplace issues that women are facing in civil aviation sector and find out strategies to eliminate prevailing discrimination. This study might help improve the women representation on board, reduce gender gaps in workforce participation, may provide more creative, innovative and engaging environment for overall growth of business as well as people. The study explore factors directly and indirectly (with mediators) affecting the impact of workplace issues on women career growth perspective prevailing in the Indian civil airlines. Approaching to the respondents was the most difficult undertaking due to their tight schedules and even in the wake of guaranteeing privacy; women employees were not ready to share their experiences. Hence, the convenience sampling was embraced where acquaintances helped in getting the responses collected.

This paper examines the impact of High-Speed Rail (HSR) on the domestic Chinese aviation passenger market. Our dataset comprises a panel of 642 air and HSR routes from 2007 to 2014. During rapid HSR expansion from 2010 to 2014, the number of air passengers per route grew 32% for destinations that did not compete with HSR, but fell 7% for routes that faced HSR competition. A difference-in-differences approach shows that the introduction of HSR leads to more than a 50% fall in air travel over two years. Increased frequency of daily HSR routes further contributes to economically large declines in air passengers. The negative effects of HSR introduction and additional daily service to air travel increase substantially over-time and the recent expansion of HSR to Central and Western regions in China dampens demand for air travel more than coastal regions. These factors point to future challenges for aviation as China plans to expand rapidly HSR service inland.

Civil aviation in modern industries is becoming increasingly automatic, precise, and efficient. Serious accidents and unsafe incidents are used to describe and investigate the safety level. Therefore, effectively predicting big data from these features and accurately identifying the safety level with advanced theories are new issues in civil aviation. The prediction of serious flight incident rate for unsafe events is proposed on the basis of deep learning considering the characteristics of big data. In this method, deep belief network (DBN) is combined with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The deep architecture is beneficial for safety prediction because each layer learns more complex features than the layers before. Compared with the previous prediction based on historical accident data, The DBN predicts the serious flight incident rate based on the results from PCA. Results indicate that the prediction data of PAC-DBN is consistent with the actual data of serious flight incident rate. The proposed method is superior to forecasting the serious flight incident rate compared with the gray neural network method, support vector regression, DBN. Simultaneously, the main influencing factors can be extracted to reduce flight incident rate.

In 2018, the Polish project concerned on operational implementation of instrumental approach procedures for landing using satellite signal with the support of SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System) - EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) was completed. This made Poland one of a few countries in which such an approach procedures were applied at the majority of controlled airports occurring in FIR (Flight Information Region) Warsaw. In the adopted procedures, minima comparable to those from the precision landing approach ILS (Instrument Landing System) cat. I were used. Satellite systems and signals provided by them are therefore a key element of the strategy for the development of communication, navigation and surveillance systems in civil aviation. What is more, positioning in various branches of transport (rail, road, and air) is often carried out thanks to satellite navigation systems, and therefore their correct functioning has a significant impact on the safety of vehicle traffic. It cannot be overlooked that the limited operational use of satellite systems in air transport is caused by various errors that are inherent to the work of these systems. The satellite system, in all its complexity, can be treated as a measurement system. This is why the research problem of the article concerns on the use of information about atmospheric factors interfering with the satellite signal for forecasting the continuity value of this signal. The rationale for choosing this problem is, among others, the fact that failure to meet the requirements for signals prevents their operational use. A review of literature made for the purposes of this article points to a number of studies conducted in the field of modeling and prediction of signal parameters through artificial neural networks. However, no detailed research that would include the use of ionospheric & tropospheric factors, as well as historical data on the accuracy, continuity, availability and integrity of satellite signal forecasting in air transport navigation has been found so far. Their implementation will therefore have a significant impact on the development of science in this area.

From the scientific research and accident investigations, we are aware of the effects of fatigue on our performance. The 24/7 nature of aviation business implies that fatigue will always be a risk factor. Currently there is not a “simple and fast test” to indicate the level of individual fatigue. We have rules and biomathematical models governing the fatigue regulation, but the obvious link- the individual has only a subjective way of reporting one’s fatigue level. The aim of the paper is to find an objective way to measure fatigue for the individual, through one component of fatigue - the sleep. This was tested with a commercially available tracking devise; first by comparing it with a medical sleep watch and then comparing subjective and objective fatigue of individuals responses and ultimately looking at the individual’s personality and their sleep. The primary intent of this paper was evaluating the strength of association and extent of agreement for multiple measures of sleep quantity, sleep quality and sleep onset latency between the Fitbit device, the Fitbit Charge HR™ (test device) and the MotionWatch 8 (MW8, clinical standard).

The main goal of maintaining an adequate level of safety in an airline is to develop measures for analyzing, evaluating and taking necessary actions to reduce risks to an acceptable level and control them. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), recommending this concept, has developed general approaches, and each airline is looking for its own way to solve the problem by creating its own methodology and means of its implementation. There is not unique approach available. The article proposes one of the possible solutions to these issues. The proposed methodology is based on the use of deviations in the activities of individual services and airline personnel on the example of the airline Technical Center.

The basic idea behind the creation of this article, was to extend the capabilities of airports for VFR night traffic by modern lighting system. Existing systems at small airports are usually outdated and do not fulfill their purpose sufficiently. Available existing modern systems have characteristics different from our defined parameters. These facts were confirmed by the analysis carried out. The aim of the study was to design parameters of the mobile light system for RWY, primarily for so-called non-instrument runway in civil aviation. The light system thus designed will be intended primarily to smaller airports that are not normally equipped with such systems. This device will also be useful in situations where it is necessary to set up a path in non-standard conditions without sufficient infrastructure necessary for the installation of stationary light systems, or as a backup system. The technology will be based on innovative LED light sources, with lower energy and operational demands - according the legislative requirements of civil aviation.

We examine the relationship between ‘Open Skies’ agreements (OSAs) signed between the USA and various countries or regions and the existence of subsidies and other forms of protection that advantage one nation's airlines over those of co-signatories to an OSA. We argue that under an oligopoly market structure, strategic competition brought about by OSAs creates incentives to subsidize and/or protect domestic airlines. Such incentives are maintained or amplified by political lobbying efforts that bias civil aviation policies towards producer interests over wider measures of economic welfare. We report on financial aid and policies which have advantaged US airlines during the OSA period and which suggest that unlevel playing fields have been made more unlevel during the era of OSAs.

On-wing washing for civil aviation engine is an important approach to improve the Exhaust Gas Temperature Margin (EGTM), and to reduce the fuel consumption as well as the resultant aviation emission. In view of the fuel flow reduction achieved by on-wing washing, this study proposes an estimation method of engine performance improvement due to washing according to fleet fuel consumption savings and engine washing costs. Finally, the engine washing interval of a fleet can be optimized based on the proposed performance assessment method of on-wing washing. A case study of one airline fleet of 200 CFM56 Engines demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the optimal washing interval is 3 times a year, and that an average annual cost savings of 20.15 million dollars can be achieved by reducing 5471 ton fuel consumption and 17,250 ton CO 2 emission.

Cardiac diseases pose a risk of incapacitation that can exceed the acceptable threshold for certain occupations. This article reviews the impact of cardiac disease on high-risk occupations and their regulation, in particular the regulatory framework set by the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and Civil Aviation Authority. Additionally, the occupational implications surrounding adult congenital heart disease are discussed.

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between proactive personality, risk perception, and cognitive flexibility on the situational judgment of flying cadets. For this, we collected self-reported data from 222 civil flying cadets from the Civil Aviation Flight University of China. The obtained results show that proactive personality has both a direct effect and an indirect effect mediated by risk perception on flying cadets’ situational judgment; furthermore, the direct effect was found to be moderated by cognitive flexibility. In particular, cognitive flexibility weakened the relationship between proactive personality and situational judgment among flying cadets. Managerial implications of this study and future research directions are presented and potential injury prevention efforts of flying cadets are discussed.

Bomb attacks on civil aviation make detecting improvised explosive devices and explosive material in passenger baggage a major concern. In the last few years, explosive detection systems for cabin baggage screening (EDSCB) have become available. Although used by a number of airports, most countries have not yet implemented these systems on a wide scale. We investigated the benefits of EDSCB with two different levels of automation currently being discussed by regulators and airport operators: automation as a diagnostic aid with an on-screen alarm resolution by the airport security officer (screener) or EDSCB with an automated decision by the machine. The two experiments reported here tested and compared both scenarios and a condition without automation as baseline. Participants were screeners at two international airports who differed in both years of work experience and familiarity with automation aids. Results showed that experienced screeners were good at detecting improvised explosive devices even without EDSCB. EDSCB increased only their detection of bare explosives. In contrast, screeners with less experience (tenure 1 year) benefitted substantially from EDSCB in detecting both improvised explosive devices and bare explosives. A comparison of all three conditions showed that automated decision provided better human-machine detection performance than on-screen alarm resolution and no automation. This came at the cost of slightly higher false alarm rates on the human-machine system level, which would still be acceptable from an operational point of view. Results indicate that a wide-scale implementation of EDSCB would increase the detection of explosives in passenger bags and automated decision instead of automation as diagnostic aid with on screen alarm resolution should be considered.

Due to difficulties in accurately predicting not only the timing and magnitude of civil aviation disasters but also dealing with the serious expiration problems that exist in perishable emergency materials, this study combines the development of risk-averse stochastic models with a material replacement strategy to design and develop a perishable emergency supplies inventory system for airports. In this regard, a lifetime-based replacement strategy and a quantity-based replacement strategy are derived from the uncertainties on occurrence time and demand quantity. As part of our model development, we determine the conditional value at risk (CVaR) to be our primary means of evaluating risk, while the issues of emergency demand and aviation accident occurrence time form the two stochastic parameters used in the study. The effective boundary conditions of both replacement mechanisms and the CVaR method is demonstrated through a comparison of risk-neutral and non-replacement models. From our analysis, we find that airports are able to derive significant benefits by utilizing our proposed replacement strategies, with the risk-averse models providing a relatively efficient means from which more robust solutions may be obtained. Moreover, we find that the effects of uncertainty in occurrence time is also not linear for CVaR models.

The Aviation Divisions of the Ministry of National Defense (ADMND), Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC) have established internal independent safety audit systems across various divisions to improve aviation safety performance and maintain safety records. The safety audit systems include a pilot reporting system, operation risk management, operation information resource management, flight and base service reporting system, etc. that are similar to the key elements of Safety Management Systems (SMS). SMS shapes the local culture and is thus, a safe operational environment. As the safety culture is one of the critical deliverables of SMS implementation, this study examined the architecture of the relationships between components of organizational safety culture, including informed, reporting, just and learning/adaptive subcultures–all embedded within the ADMND in Taiwan. A total of 915 valid questionnaires, collected from crewmembers (pilots and ground support staff) of ADMND, were analyzed and formed the basis for structural equation modeling and subsequent analyses. The analytical results indicated that safety culture has been well-established within the ADMND which is fully in compliance with the fundamental implementation of SMS (AC 120-32C) issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of the Ministry of Transportation, Taiwan, ROC.

Global civil aviation accounts for 4–5% of total greenhouse gas emissions and these emissions are increasing. In the absence of sufficiently effective global climate instruments, national instruments might be considered as a complement, in which case some way of allocating emissions from international air travel between countries is needed. The purpose of this paper is to develop an accounting method that reflects one country's greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel, and to apply this methodology to Sweden. The new methodology consists of three parts: the number of international air trips made by the country's residents; the average distance of these trips; and the greenhouse gas emissions per passenger km. For Sweden, data for 1990 to 2014 show an increase in the number of trips by Sweden's population of 3.6% per year, resulting in, on average, one international journey (round trip 5800 km) per capita in 2014. The average distance to the final destination has increased only marginally due to simultaneous growth in both long and short trips. However, global average greenhouse gas emissions per passenger km have decreased by 1.9% per year between 1990 and 2014. Because the increase in the number of their trips has outweighed the decrease in emissions per km, the total emissions from Swedish residents' international air travel have increased by 61% between 1990 and 2014. The total emissions from Swedish residents' air travel, including both CO2 and non-CO2-effects, were 11 Mt CO2 equivalents in 2014, which is the same level as the emissions from Swedish car traffic. This type of reliable data is important when designing policies and for getting public support for new policies.

Upset condition encountered by an aircraft in flight could pose great threat to flight safety, which is of chief importance in civil aviation. The causal factors have the nonlinear and multiple characteristics, and as a result the conventional envelope protection system cannot successfully do with the condition. So dynamic envelope based on differential manifold theory, which can take more coupling factors into account, is proposed as a basis to design a novel envelope protection system. Then the relationship between the dynamic envelope and the control coefficient or pilot command is obtained, and the result shows that the dynamic envelope can be enlarged with the change of control coefficient. Furthermore, quantification of flight security is realized via defining relative distance between flight state and dynamic envelope, which can detect whether there is a risk for an aircraft in flight. Finally, an envelope protection system based on dynamic envelope enlargement is proposed on the basis. NASA’s Generic Transport Model encountering hazard gust wind in climbing phase is taken as an example to verify the system’s feasibility. The result shows that the system can give a better operation encountering upset condition and to a certain extent reduce the number of accidents or incidents. Keywords: Differential manifold theory, Dynamic envelope, Flight safety, Loss of control, Region of attraction

The rapid increase of civil aviation has posed a great challenge to air traffic (especially aircraft boarding). In this study, we propose a new aircraft boarding model to explore the impacts of group behavior on each passenger's motion, seat conflict, check-in time, time of handling luggage as well as boarding time during the boarding process. The numerical results show that the group behavior has some positive impacts on the boarding efficiency, and that the impacts become more prominent with an increasing number of groups. Hence, the group behavior should be encouraged to enhance the efficiency during the boarding process.

Human factors have been defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as “about people in their living and working situations; about their relationship with machines, with procedures and with the environment about them; and about their relationships with other people (at work)”. Human factors contribute to approximately 75% of aircraft accidents and incidents. As such, understanding their influence is essential to improve safety in the aviation industry. This study examined the different human factors causations in a random sample of over 200 commercial air transport accidents and incidents from 2000 to 2016. The main objective of this study was to identify the principal human factor contributions to aviation accidents and incidents. An exploratory research design was utilised. The qualitative data were recorded in a database, and were coded into categories about the flights (including date, manufacturer, carrier, state of occurrence, etc). These categories were then analysed using Chi-Squared tests to determine which were statistically significant in terms of having an influence on the accidents/incidents. The most significant human factor was found to be situational awareness followed by non-adherence to procedures. In addition, charter operations proved to have a significantly higher rate of human factor related occurrence as compared to other type of operations. A significant finding was that Africa has a high rate of accidents/incidents relative to the amount of traffic and aircraft movements. These findings reflect some of the more noteworthy incidents that have received significant media attention, including Air Asia 8501 on the 28th of December 2014, TransAsia Airways 235 on the 4th of February 2015, and Air France 447 on the 1st of June 2009; these accidents resulted in a significant loss of lives where situational awareness and non-adherence to procedures were significant contributing factors.