OPTIMAL CRUISE PERFORMANCE OF LIGHT TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT FROM FUEL EFFICIENCY POINT OF VIEW

The need for the increase of speed, range and the useful load of general air transport is presently more actual than ever. In direct conjunction with these factors is the aircraft fuel efficiency. Determination of the fuel quantities used up in aircraft motion both in the air and on the ground has very essential meaning in the analysis of economics of the air transport. Reducing the amount of fuel consumed involves knowing the effect of alternate profiles and procedures on fuel consumption or fuel flow for the various aircraft types operating in the system. The aviation community is striving to provide more fuel efficient operations in the system. Critical to many of the efforts is the ability to estimate fuel consumption. A methodology of SFC (specific fuel consumption) valuation relating to aircraft performance and actual flight profile is the main goal of the work. Aircraft fuel consumption model consist of two submodels. The first is the aircraft computational model, with several submodels: geometrical, aerodynamic, mass, power unit. The second is utilization model, namely transport operation model. The calculations were done for few different categories airplanes. Final results and recommendations based on the analysis of fuel consumption and transportation energy effectiveness are presented in conclusions.