Civil Tiltrotor Aircraft Operations

The goal of the current study is to investigate the benefits and challenges of operating a notional fleet of civil tiltrotor aircraft (10-, 30-, 90-, and 120-passenger vehicles), in the commercial transport role, in the projected Next Generation airspace system. Considerable effort was expended in modeling and performing ACES airspace simulations of this civil tiltrotor (CTR) fleet. An extensive set of airport networks (assuming on- or near-airport property vertiports for CTR VTOL or STOL operations) were also modeled in the airspace simulations. In particular, the networks were mapped to three primary regions: the Northeast Corridor, an Atlanta regional network, and a Las Vegas regional network. Using JPDO demand/capacity projections for 2025 as a baseline, the potential impact of CTR fleet introduction to these regional networks was assessed. The NAS-wide average delay decreased from ~22 minutes for the conventional fixed-wing fleet baseline to 7-8 minutes with the combined introduction of the CTR fleet throughout all three primary regional networks. The study will next consider the operational implications of this notional CTR fleet in supporting major regional and/or National emergencies and disaster relief efforts. The CTR disaster relief analysis is being performed by means of specialized simulation tools. This work re-emphasizes the unique role of rotorcraft in supporting such life-saving missions.