An Investigation of ATC Procedures for IFR Approaches to Triple Parallel Runways.

Abstract : A study was conducted to investigate air traffic control (ATC) procedures applicable to the conduct of simultaneous instrument flight rules (IFR) approaches to a set of three parallel runways. A dynamic simulation was conducted to examine the various aspects of such an operation, including ATC procedures, monitoring requirements, general controller workload limits, and a comparison of the effect of greater and lesser percentages of Mode C-equipped aircraft on monitoring procedures. Results show that the concept of conducting simultaneous instrument approaches to a set of triple parallel runways is feasible using standard ATC procedures and separation standards (except on the final approach course). (Author)