Departure Efficiency Benefits
of Terminal RNAV Operations at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
April 2007
Dr. Ralf H. Mayer, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
On September 6, 2005 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented
revised
Standard Instrument Departure (SID) procedures at Dallas-Fort Worth
International
Airport (DFW). The procedures leverage Area Navigation (RNAV) capabilities
that enable
greater flexibility and accuracy in point-to-point navigation. Implementation
of the
procedures relies on flight automation systems currently available on
the majority of
commercial and corporate aircraft and promises more efficient utilization
of available
runways and constrained airspace surrounding the airport. This paper
outlines the design of
DFW's RNAV departure procedures and reviews the mechanism that
enables operational
benefits. It describes the Monte Carlo modeling approach taken to evaluate
operational
changes, the methodology used to validate model performance with radar
data, and presents
potential departure capacity and delay reduction benefits of RNAV departure
operations at
DFW. It shows that delay reduction benefits to users and operators of
close to $10 million
annually are possible for DFW when conducting RNAV departure operations.
Key
performance metrics of the model are compared to performance metrics
obtained from
extensive pre- and post-implementation evaluations. They confirm that
the required
operational changes that enable delay reduction benefits were largely
realized within the
first 2 months after implementation of the procedures.
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