Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Eunsun Ryu - Thesis Final.pdf (6.6 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Evaluating the Behavior of General Aviation Aircraft and Design of General Aviation Runways towards Mitigating Runway Excursions

Ryu, Eunsun
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1483704806548798

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Civil Engineering.
A runway excursion is an event whereby an aircraft has strayed from a declared runway during takeoff or landing. Runway excursions are the most frequent of all runway related accidents. Aviation authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommend runway design standards with additional safety areas to protect an aircraft in the case of a runway excursion. Despite their precautions, runway excursions remain a significant issue in the aviation industry. Previous research on the development of runway excursion risk models focused primarily on commercial aviation with relatively little attention paid to general aviation (GA). In this research, to further understand the characteristics of general aviation runway excursions, various statistical analyses were conducted on several years of runway excursion accident and incident data from publicly available sources including FAA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The analysis included the determination of potential differences in runway excursion rates between commercial and general aviation operations, operations at towered vs. non-towered GA airports, varying weather conditions and runway dimensions. In some instances, where data such as national totals of general aviation operations and flight hours was not available, estimation models were developed based on the known data for the State of Ohio. The results of the analysis performed found that: the risk of general aviation excursions is significantly higher than for commercial aviation. In addition, general aviation operations were revealed to have a higher risk of excursions in good visibility and ceiling “visual” meteorological conditions (VMC) rather than poor “instrument” meteorological conditions (IMC), which is a different result from that for commercial operations. That is, visibility and ceiling may be a less important factor for general aviation excursion than considered in previous models for commercial excursions since GA pilots tend to less fly under the IMC condition and less trained for bad weather condition. Furthermore, runway dimension and the presence of an air traffic control towers were also found to be factors. In general aviation, the non-towered GA excursion risk is higher than that for airports with air traffic control towers. Airports with smaller runways are also found to have a higher risk of runway excursions than airports with larger runways. In order to gain further insights into what may cause general aviation runway excursions, this research also included an empirical study performed to investigate how much general aviation aircraft deviate from a runway centerline upon landing. This research was performed by analyzing aircraft trajectory data collected through LiDAR sensor systems on a runway at The Ohio State University Airport. Collected trajectories from 18 landing aircraft were analyzed based on their longitudinal and vertical distance change. Initial findings from this analysis revealed that aircraft tend to oscillate around the centerline in the early stage of the landing roll, immediately after touchdown. Much of the lateral movement is thought to be the result of pilots attempting to correct their trajectory to get as close to, and stay on, centerline. As an aircraft moves toward the runway end, pilots had less correction in their lateral direction, as they either got close to centerline, or maintained a consistent distance away from the centerline. In addition, it was found that when aircraft land farther away laterally from a runway centerline, the aircraft had more deviation than aircraft that touch down closer to the centerline. The findings from this study may guide research into the relation between failing to properly correct deviation from centerline during touchdown and runway excursions.
Seth Young (Advisor)
Mark McCord (Committee Member)
Philip Smith (Committee Member)
143 p.
Civil Engineering
General aviation, runway excursion, runway safety, runway design, LiDAR sensing, aircraft trajectory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ryu, E. (2017). Evaluating the Behavior of General Aviation Aircraft and Design of General Aviation Runways towards Mitigating Runway Excursions [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1483704806548798

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ryu, Eunsun. Evaluating the Behavior of General Aviation Aircraft and Design of General Aviation Runways towards Mitigating Runway Excursions. 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1483704806548798.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ryu, Eunsun. "Evaluating the Behavior of General Aviation Aircraft and Design of General Aviation Runways towards Mitigating Runway Excursions." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1483704806548798

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1483704806548798
742
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.