Design methodology to simulate continuous descent operations at Kansai International Airport

One of the hot topics in the field of air traffic management is continuous descent operations, which is one of the efficient descent procedure to an airport. In Japan, the continuous descent operations are implemented at Kansai International Airport, but its applicability is limited to only the non-congestion period owing to the unpredictability of the trajectory and arrival time of the continuous descent operations as compared to the conventional operations. To expand the time period for the continuous descent operations, in this paper, we develop a fast-time simulator. The simulator can provide the predicted trajectory and arrival time of the continuous descent operations. The prediction accuracy is reviewed by comparison with the results of the simulation conducted on a full flight simulator. Discussions on accuracy improvement of the prediction have been provided considering available data for air traffic controllers through radar data systems.