Aircraft Reinjection on Missed Approach Maneuvers With Progressive Speed Variation

Abstract

Missed approaches are highly critical situations in which the safety of the aircraft must be paramount. For this reason, they typically involve restarting the approach and landing maneuvers from the beginning, which affects air traffic. However, if circumstances permit, a quick, safe reinjection (in the framework of performance-based navigation) may be a feasible option. Ideally, the comfort of those onboard during the maneuver should also be ensured. This involves reviewing the assumed flight model when designing the reinjection procedure and, consequently, the procedure itself. In this article, we detail a methodology supporting aircraft progressive speed variation. More specifically, a new reinjection procedure is proposed that considers a flying style capable of introducing a constant acceleration between waypoints. We prove that its use leads to more accurate reference trajectory tracking, providing, at the same time, smoother maneuvers. In addition, we show that adopting a less aggressive flight model also results in fuel savings.