Operations and aircraft design towards greener civil aviation using air-to-air refuelling

Abstract

Summary As civil aviation expands, environmental aspects and fuel savings are becoming increasingly important. Amongst technologies proposed for more efficient flight, air-to-air refuelling (AAR), ‘hopping’ and flying in close formation (drag reduction), all have significant possibilities. It will be interesting to know also how these technologies may co-exist e.g. AAR and formation flying. In military use, AAR is virtually indispensable. Its benefits are real and largely proven in hostile and demanding scenarios. We present a case for applying AAR in a civil context to show that substantial reductions in fuel burn for long-range missions are achievable. Overall savings, including the fuel used during the tanker missions, would be of the order of 30-40% fuel and 35-40% financial. These are very significant in terms of the impact on aviation’s contribution to reducing atmospheric pollution. AAR allows smaller, efficient (greener) aircraft optimised for about 3,000nm range to fulfil long-range route requirements. This implies greater usage of smaller airports, relieving congestion and ATC demands on Hub airports. Problems due to shed vortices and wakes at airports are reduced. Smaller engines will be needed. Integrated (accepted) AAR could lead to further benefits. Aircraft could take-off ‘light’, with minimum fuel and reserves and a planned AAR a few minutes into the flight. The ‘light’ aircraft would not require over-rating of the engines during take-off and would therefore be less noisy during take-off and climb-out, permitting more acceptable night operations. The availability of civil AAR will enable opportunities for hitherto borderline technologies to be utilised in future aircraft. Laminar flow will provide fuel savings and increased efficiency in its own right but could be significantly enhanced within a civil AAR environment. Similarly, supersonic transport may become an acceptable economic option. AAR affords the possibility of a complete widening of the design space and this should appeal to the imagination of current and future designers.