Developing the range equation depending on drag polar and specific fuel consumption using real flight data

Aircraft performance parameters have an essential role to play in keeping economic and environmental sustainability in aviation. In addition, in terms of air traffic management, preliminary aircraft design and so on, being able to measure the aircraft performance parameters correctly on cruise range affects to air transport. The efficiency of the cruise range is crucial for both evaluating and understanding the above-mentioned impacts for commercial aircraft; thus, this study focused on the cruise range. Quick Access Recorder (QAR) is used to analyze the cruise range more accurately. The QAR dataset comprises 6574 short-distance domestic flights of commercial narrow-body turbofan aircraft among 31 different city pairs. Firstly, factors influencing cruise range performance have been defined and studied to achieve more detailed cruise range equation. Secondly, using the actual flight data, the drag polar model is improved to take into account cambered profile, compressibility effects and cruise airspeeds of commercial aircraft. Thirdly, models of thrust specific fuel consumption (TSFC) are evaluated by comparing and the most appropriate one for the cruise phase is chosen. Using Breguet range equation with these greatly improved parameters, the cruise range values are calculated after all those steps. When comparing the results of this enhanced range model with the actual flight data, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) for all aircraft and engine type group (AETG) considered in the data is found to be 2.5 %. This figure corresponds to an error of 7.9 % less than that of previous model ranges based on simple parabolic drag polar and TSFC models.