Deicing Decision Support Tool, Build 2

摘要

Delays associated with the departure phase of a flight account for the majority of delays in the National Airspace System (NAS). Moreover, the bulk of the delays are weather related. Snow or freezing rain is one possible cause of weather related delays. For airports that experience long winter months, e.g., Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), deicing is an unavoidable part of operations. If the deicing resources are not managed well, there could be significant impact on the departure schedules. In addition, the flight schedules at hub airports are highly coupled to facilitate the passenger connections and crew exchanges at those airports. Any perturbation to the schedules could have unexpected impacts on the downstream connecting flights. If it is snowing at a hub airport, deicing associated delays at the hub airport can be amplified by the hub-and-spoke system. An automated tool is discussed in this paper and addresses this issue by providing information for efficient use of deicing pads at DTW.