Airbus fello'fly test flights Nov 9-10

[thenoflyzone]

Airbus is conducting a fello'fly test today from TLS to YUL with 2 A350s.

Airbus 1 (AIB1), an A350-900, and Airbus 2 (AIB2), an A350-1000, are the planes in question. They are currently airborne and have an ETA of around 9h40 local.

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/aib1
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/aib2

The planes will fly in formation, at very close proximity. It is expected to produce a fuel savings of between 5-10% per trip for the trailing plane. The planes will head back to TLS tomorrow.

Official Airbus site explaining it all.

http://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/disruptive-concepts/biomimicry/fellofly

[mtlurb]

What is a fello'fly ?

[SameGuy]

The theory of biomimicry in action. Theoretically, on routes with enough traffic, the planes could fly in formation such that the trailing plane may take advantage of the “draft” from the leading plane, much like how migrating birds pool and conserve energy by flying in formation. So on a route like CDG-YUL, which will have perhaps 10 heavies a day next summer, carriers could be authorized to run two or more flights in close formation, resulting in fuel savings of 5-10% — a non-negligible amount.

Now that said, YUL already has a LOT of trouble handling the afternoon rush at Customs and Immigration as it is. It remains to be seen if the ground logistics effort needed to accommodate such formation flights would negate any fuel savings (I think so).

[mtlurb]

Thank you very much man for the explanation, had no idea about these concepts were applied to aviation

[thenoflyzone]

6 hours ago, SameGuy said:

The theory of biomimicry in action. Theoretically, on routes with enough traffic, the planes could fly in formation such that the trailing plane may take advantage of the “draft” from the leading plane, much like how migrating birds pool and conserve energy by flying in formation. So on a route like CDG-YUL, which will have perhaps 10 heavies a day next summer, carriers could be authorized to run two or more flights in close formation, resulting in fuel savings of 5-10% — a non-negligible amount.

Now that said, YUL already has a LOT of trouble handling the afternoon rush at Customs and Immigration as it is. It remains to be seen if the ground logistics effort needed to accommodate such formation flights would negate any fuel savings (I think so).

This doesn't really affect airports. It's not like commercial airliners can land or takeoff in formation. They can't. Normal separation standards will be applied during departure, and during descent and landing. So there shouldn't be an increase in airport congestion. Slot times at level 2 and 3 airports will still need to be adhered to.

The fuel savings were are talking about here will only be gained during the cruise portion of flight. Most likely in oceanic airspace, where the oceanic NAT tracks are set in advance and where every plane must adhere to said tracks. So route duplication - and therefore formation flights -  are easier to plan on the ocean.

All this being said, I think this is simply a marketing tactic, more than anything else. Formation flights will be hard to implement, especially between competing airlines. Imagine AF wanting to trail AC on CDG-YUL. AC might say no, we want to trail AF, and so on. Maybe there will be cooperation. Maybe not. So ideally, it will need to be applied in house for every airline, between their own fleet. Maybe it will happen one day, maybe it won't. Also, what do insurance companies have to say about it? The idea of having two heavies 1.5nm (3km) apart in oceanic airspace, at the same altitude can't be too appealing to them. Premiums might go up for airlines wanting to engage in such endeavours. 

[thenoflyzone]

Official Airbus press release about today's flights.

https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-11-airbus-and-its-partners-demonstrate-how-sharing-the-skies-can-save

Toulouse/Montreal, 09 November 2021 – Airbus has performed the first long-haul demonstration of formation flight in general air traffic (GAT) regulated transatlantic airspace with two A350 aircraft flying at three kilometers apart from Toulouse, France to Montreal, Canada. The aircraft were greeted at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport. Over 6 tons of CO2 emissions were saved on the trip, confirming the potential for more than a 5% fuel saving on long-haul flights. 

The “final demonstration” test flight took place on 9 November 2021 involving two A350 test aircraft, MSN1 and MSN59, the former as the leader aircraft and the latter as the follower. This was made possible with flight control systems developed by Airbus which position the follower aircraft safely in the wake updraft of the leader aircraft allowing it to reduce engine thrust and reduce fuel consumption. A similar principle can be observed with large migrating birds such as geese, which fly together in a distinct V-shaped formation.

Sabine Klauke, Chief Technical Officer at Airbus declared: “This demonstration flight is a concrete example of our commitment to making our decarbonisation roadmap a reality. It also speaks to how collaboration across the industry will be key to making this happen. We have received a strong level of support for this project from our airline and air traffic partners, plus regulators. The opportunity to get this deployed for passenger aircraft around the middle of this decade is very promising. Imagine the potential if fello’fly was deployed across the industry!” 

Pilots from Airbus partner airlines SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Frenchbee witnessed the transatlantic flight onboard as observers. The flight was made possible by Airbus and its air traffic management partners and navigation service providers (DSNA, NATS, NAV CANADA, Eurocontrol and IAA), with the support of the DGAC, who together proved that wake energy retrieval flight technology leveraged in a fello’fly flight can be achieved without compromising safety. The demonstration also shows how fello’fly operations could significantly boost environmental performance of commercial aircraft and contribute to the aviation industry’s decarbonisation targets in the immediate term.

The next step is to get the support of the authorities so that this new operational concept can be certified, and ultimately enable airlines to reduce their fuel burn and CO2 emissions.

The Airbus pioneering fello’fly flight was welcomed upon its arrival in Montreal by the Council President and Secretary General of the UN aviation agency, ICAO. Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano said the demonstration represented “an inspiring example of the level of current commitment to reduce aviation emissions,” while ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar remarked on how it reflected “the incredible diversity of air transport innovations now being realized to meet the sector’s targets and ensure flying becomes more and more sustainable.” 

Launched in 2019, fello’fly is a flight demonstrator project hosted within Airbus UpNext using biomimicry (the design and production of materials, structures and systems inspired by nature). Airbus UpNext is a wholly-owned Airbus subsidiary and part of the Airbus innovation ecosystem, created to give future technologies a development fast-track by building demonstrators at speed and scale, in order to evaluate, mature and validate potential new products and services that encompass radical technological breakthroughs.

[SameGuy]

My comment about the airport problems is more about stretching the available ground (ramp, fuelling, arrivals agents, CBSA, etc) resources at YUL (as an example) when full heavies land back-à-back-à-back. It’s normally very busy from ~15:30 to ~19:00 between all the transborder, southern and European flights landing during that window; if (for example) Air France chooses to buddy-up 344 and 346 to land a few minutes apart, it  adds another 300 passengers to a system that is already stretched to its limits most days.

1 hour ago, thenoflyzone said:

Slot times at level 2 and 3 airports will still need to be adhered to.

Or are you pointing out something obvious that slipped right by me? The flights would depart and arrive at their set slot times but one hangs back and the other guns it to “meet up”? Then yes, it’s all just optics.

[caribb]

My capture of the two flights coming in this morning;

 

[SameGuy]

Excellent!!!

[I’ll fave when I get some more in the morning]

[Done!]

[SameGuy]

I took a few shots 😜