Altering Flight Schedules for Increased Fuel Efficiency.

摘要

Air Mobility Command (AMC) has made considerable improvements to reduce fuel consumption over the years, but failed to account for temperature effects in their efficiency equations. The purpose of this research was to analyze the effects of temperature on fuel consumption during different times of the day and months of the year. To accomplish this, the researcher created a temperature model for Charleston Air Force Base (AFB) for all months of the year, and modeled the fuel consumption for a four-hour training flight profile for each hour of the day. After analysis, it is imperative that Charleston AFB alter its training flight schedules to increase fuel efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. Recommendations for policy options include decreasing the amount of day training flights and increasing the amount of night training flights, decreasing the amount of summer training flights (May through August) and increasing the amount of winter training flights (November through February), and applying a similar methodology to ALL flights originating from Charleston AFB. Though C-17 flights at Charleston AFB were the focus of this study, the findings should benefit all C-17 operating locations and other aircraft operated by AMC and the United States Air Force.