Etihad Airways has partnered with NADA and Boeing to create more sustainable aircraft.
An Etihad Airways 787-10 Dreamliner fitted with special equipment completed a test flight last week as part of Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator programme.
On the Etihad flight, pilots, air traffic controllers and other technical staff shared digital information in real time on a NASA system named Tailored Arrival Management.
Through this system a number of tools are used to enhance safety by reducing workload and radio frequency congestion, lowering fuel use, emissions and noise.
Handheld ultraviolet light wands are also being tested to determine their effectiveness in disinfecting flight decks and cabins.
Through a series of flights, using 1,200 microphones, the programme will also gather data to reduce noise and create quieter aircraft.
Noise reduction solutions being considered include creating quieter landing gear.
“At NASA, we’ve been researching the individual airplane noise sources, their interactions with the airframe and how they combine to the total aircraft noise,” said Dr. Russell Thomas technical lead at NASA.
“This unique, carefully designed flight test provides the environment where all these effects are measured, which will be key to advancing our ability to design lower-noise aircraft.”
Scheduled flights are using a blend of 50 percent sustainable fuel at Boeing’s testing site in Glasgow before the aircraft will be delivered to Abu Dhabi in September.
For more information visit www.boeing.com/principles/environment/ecodemonstrator.
