Photo courtesy of DLR
Flight experiments have been conducted to measure emissions and contrails of General Electric’s GEnx engines during en-route cruising, Eurocontrol says. Research was done by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in close cooperation with Deutsche Lufthansa and the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC).
This experiment was prompted by the fact that ground measurements show a considerable reduction in nitrogen oxide and soot during flights with GEnx engines, but to date no data had been collected during flights. Measurements made by the WeCare research project were the first of their kind worldwide, Eurocontrol says. Tests were conducted by DLR’s Dassault Falcon 20E. It carried out some far-field contrail measurements within 7 to 50 nm behind 15 pre-defined Lufthansa aircraft.
“The measurements lasted an average of 20 to 30 minutes per flight between flight levels 300 and 330 in the Hannover Upper Information Region controlled by MUAC’s air traffic controllers. The Falcon essentially flew directly behind the selected aircraft, collecting data from their contrails and emissions,” Eurocontrol says. “Like other experimental, test and military practise flights in this area, the Falcon was controlled by MUAC air traffic controllers at special working positions in close coordination with MUAC controllers working in the standard sectors, handling the commercial Lufthansa flights taking part in the experiment.”