"First Test of Denver Airport's Automated Runway Landing System Successful"

Friday, August 29, 2003

First Test of Denver Airport's Automated Runway Landing System Successful
The Denver (CO) Post


United Airlines captains Joe Burns and Ray Nesheim maneuvered their Airbus
320 for the first-ever approach to Denver International Airport's Runway 34
Left and activated the plane's auto- land system. 

The jet was about to fly itself to the runway, with the pilots' hands off
the controls. 

On Thursday, the United pilots were assisting the Federal Aviation
Administration in testing the high-tech runway, which allows specially
equipped planes to land when pilots can't see the ground because of bad
weather. 

Next week, the new $166 million runway opens for commercial service,
boosting DIA's landing capacity by a third. 

The runway is 16,000 feet long and 200 feet wide, making it one of the
largest commercial runways in the world. DIA's other five runways are each
12,000 feet long and 150 feet wide. 

Opening the new runway will give DIA the ability to operate 40 more flights
an hour in good weather and 30 more an hour in bad weather, said United
captain Stephen Forte, the airline's senior vice president for flight
operations. 

"This is a tremendous thing for Denver, for United and for our customers,"
said Forte, emphasizing that DIA will play a significant role in United's
future. 

One hope of DIA officials is that the airport's new extra-long runway will
help lure more international air service to Denver. 

Boosting the level of international service has big implications for the
entire region's economy and is often cited as a key way to bring new jobs to
metro Denver. 

In June, the FAA said the sixth runway "will improve not only the efficiency
of the airport, but the efficiency of the national airspace system as well."


It will keep the airport's arrival and departure rate at the maximum, "even
in the worst weather conditions," the FAA said. 

Additional runway length helps heavily loaded wide-body jets take off for
faraway destinations, but business conditions also must be ripe if Denver is
to get additional European service and new nonstop service to Asia and South
America, aviation experts say. 

DIA's sixth runway has had a troubled history. It was in the original plans
for the airport and then chopped from the final design for budgetary
reasons. 

Some congressional critics initially succeeded in blocking funding of the
runway, but Colorado's congressional delegation finally gathered enough
support to get 75 percent of it paid for by the federal government. 

On Thursday, the weather was clear, but Burns and Nesheim were simulating a
situation in which they were in the soup, with no ability to see the runway
until the plane touched down. 

At 400 feet above the ground, Nesheim, United's assistant fleet captain for
the Airbus 319 and 320 fleet, called out, "Land engaged," signaling that the
computer was making the transition to landing mode. 

At 100 feet above the ground, the controls told Nesheim that the auto-land
system was fully functioning. 

In the cockpit's left seat, Burns had lightly placed his right hand on top
of the thrust levers, ready to push them forward to abort the landing and
power the plane up from the runway if Nesheim noted problems with the
auto-land readouts.

That wasn't necessary. 

"It's tracking right on," said Burns, as the plane descended to land
precisely on the runway's center line. 

"It's completely self-tracking. I'm not doing anything, just offering moral
support," said Burns, United's director of flight standards and technology,
as the Airbus rolled down the runway. 

The FAA's Norm LeFevre sat behind Burns and Nesheim in the cockpit, grading
the performance of the runway, plane and flight crew. 

LeFevre is an all-weather operations program specialist. He and other FAA
officials must certify that the runway meets federal standards before it can
handle planes landing in near-zero visibility. Thursday's test was a
success, LeFevre said, and he expects that the runway will have the near-
zero-visibility certification by next week. 

After the plane rolled under computer guidance down the entire 16,000-foot
runway length, Burns said with a laugh, "I've had enough of this." He shut
down the automated system and took control to taxi the plane the 3 miles
back to United's gate.


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