United Airlines Tries Hypermiling a Boeing

[n2doc]

By Jason Paur June 25, 2010 |

United Airlines has taken hypermiling to the skies.

On a flight between between Chicago and Frankfurt, the airline employed every trick in the book to show what can be done to reduce fuel burn in existing aircraft. The result was a savings of more than 1,400 gallons of jet fuel on a transatlantic round-trip flight. That may not sound like a whole lot, but with more than 600 airliners flying across the Atlantic on an average day, it adds up quickly.

The flight, made earlier this month, and was a regularly scheduled trip but United and its partners, including air-traffic controllers in the United States, Canada and Europe, had been planning it for some time. Several fuel-saving techniques were used, but the main goal was demonstrating how a flexible flight path allows pilots to take advantage of favorable winds, says Joe Burns, director of flight tests at United.

“The ability to change altitude even by a couple of thousand feet could make a big impact depending on how close you are to the jet stream,” he says.

The round trip flight was made with a Boeing 777. And like many of their road-going hypermilers, United made no modifications to the airplane. Instead the airline simply employed a host of techniques to save fuel. Unlike some hardcore hypermilers, the pilots adhered strictly to all safety regulations and did not pulse-and-glide or draft a bigger plane to Germany.



Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/06/united-airlines-tries-hypermiling-with-a-boeing-777/

[kirby]

1. Sounds like...

The US Govt could be a leader in reducing carbon emissions if they actually took a leadership role. FAA could help in this case. The military is the largest consumer of oil, they could implement better standards. A lot of progress towards 'green' could be 'mandated' by the government in their own internal policies.

[petronius]

2. As I understand it, this is one of the big reasons for more fully integrating GPS into

flight planning - to avoid the predetermined routes/levels and allow each flight to follow altitudes and flight paths that are most efficient...

[Dead_Parrot]

3. "did not ... draft a bigger plane to Germany."

Shame, that would have been fun to watch. :evilgrin: