The endless or circular runway concept involves aircraft operating from a circular, banked runway that surrounds the terminal area and other airport infrastructure. In theory, this allows aircraft to always take off and land into an almost direct headwind, relaxes takeoff and landing field length constraints, simplifies taxiing operations, eliminates runway crossings and risk of incursions, and can potentially allow multiple aircraft to occupy different sectors of the runway. The concept had been field-tested by the United States military in the 1960s, and was more recently the focus of a European research study. However, it has been regarded with serious skepticism and at times hostile criticism when viewed in the context of current and established aircraft designs, pilot training and technique, and air traffic operations. It is stated upfront that this paper is not intended to either promote or denounce the circular/endless runway concept. The goal of this paper is to present an objective, simulation-based, and aircraft-centric investigation pertaining only to certain aspects of the concept through a series of "what if" and "if-then" scenarios. It will make use of a modular MATLAB/Simulink/FlightGear flight simulation framework along with a parametric workflow for introducing the circular runway geometry into the simulation environment.
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