Operational Analysis for the Formation Flight for Aerodynamic Benefit Program

When aircraft fly through the atmosphere they leave energy behind in the form of a wake. Trailing aircraft are able to recover some of this energy by properly positioning themselves with respect to this wake. As part of the Formation Flight for Aerodynamic Benefit Program, several full scale flights tests were conducted using United States Air Force C-17s that demonstrated greater than 10% fuel burn savings for the trailing aircraft could be autonomously achieved over long durations. Not obvious, however, is how these fuel savings will translate to the C-17 fleet as a whole and what the operational impacts of the technology will be. To address these questions, analysis tools for analyzing and optimizing aircraft formations and route networks were developed. These tools were then applied to historical data for flights into and out of the U.S. Northern Command to predict potential efficiency gains and the associated operational costs.