REDUCTION AND ANALYSIS OF MODE C ALTITUDE DATA COLLECTED AT HIGH ALTITUDES OVER THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES

This report describes the reduction and analysis of mode C altitude data collected over the en route centers of Cleveland, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The data were gathered under the aegis of the separation standards program primarily for the study of lateral navigation performance over the continental United States at high altitudes. This study provides a procedure for estimating the vertical flight technical error as evidenced from mode C altitude data recorded at the en route centers. It does not account for basic altimeter system error or flight technical error biases and/or fluctuations that are not observable in the ground-derived mode C reported altitude. The data are fitted to six different analytical distributional forms. The effect that data quantization has on the estimation of the parameters of the distributions is examined. Then statistical tests are performed to evaluate the appropriateness of each distributional model in representing the histogram of the mode C deviations. A preliminary analysis is conducted to investigate the association between mode C altitude and aircraft environmental performance characteristics commonly utilized in evaluating separation criteria, as well as identifying aircraft attributes that are of major interest when evaluating vertical flight technical error. (Author)

• Corporate Authors:

  Federal Aviation Administration

  William J. Hughes Technical Center, Airport Technology Research and Development Branch
  Atlantic City International Airport
  Atlantic City, NJ  United States  08405
• Authors:
  • Rigolizzo, R
• Publication Date: 1982-3

Media Info

• Pagination: 101 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Altitude; Civil aircraft; Civil aviation; Data collection; Data management; Data reduction; Digital computers; Error analysis; Flight paths; Graphs; Information processing; Specifications; Standards; Systems analysis; Tables (Data); Test procedures; Tests
• Uncontrolled Terms: High altitude; Separation
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Old TRIS Terms: Digital systems; Mission profiles; Test and evaluation; Transmeridian flights; Vertical orientation
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Data and Information Technology;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00365260
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT/FAA/CT-81/53, DOT/FAA/EM-82/9
• Files: NTIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 30 2003 12:00AM