Wake Turbulence : An Obstacle to Increased Air Traffic Capacity

National Academies Press

Wake TurbulenceAn Obstacle to Increased Air Traffic Capacity\nAuthor(s): National Research Council, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Committee to Conduct an Independent Assessment of the Nation's Wake Turbulence Research and Development Program\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: National Academies Press, United States\nImprint: National Academies Press\nISBN-13: 9780309113793, 978-0309113793\nSynopsis\nWithout major changes, the current air transportation system will be unable to accommodate the expected increase in demand by 2025. One proposal to address this problem is to use the Global Positioning System to enable aircraft to fly more closely spaced. This approach, however, might be limited by the wake turbulence problem, which can be a safety hazard when smaller aircraft follow relatively larger aircraft too closely. To examine how this potential hazard might be reduced, Congress in 2005 directed NASA to request a study from .