The Benefits of V- Formation Flying for Commercial Aviation - Literature review Example

The Benefits of V- Formation Flying For Commercial Aviation Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction Many aircraft and birds capitalize on the advantages of V-formation flying in terms of reducing the level of drag. These gains of V-formation flight makes it a lucrative idea for every instance where flight effectiveness is needed. Commercial airlines are currently trying to identify means of organizing aircraft to trail in V-formation as they move across the world. The cost of energy or fuel saved by the reduction in drag force alone is multiple. There are also other benefits derived from V-formation by the commercial aviation industry. This paper analyzes several benefits that commercial aviation can derive from V-formation flight. V-formation flying is common to migrating birds. Several researchers have always asked themselves why birds fly in v-formation. A current study by Portugal et al. (2014) on ibises reveals that ibises carefully position their wings and sync their flapping seemingly to catch up with the preceding birds. The results indicate that birds are more complicated than often believed. Birds react in a sophisticated manner to uphold their V-formations. According to the scientist, V-formation can also be incorporated in commercial aviation (Cattivelli and Sayed, 2011). A study by Ning et al. (2011) reveals that flying birds often move in a V formation. Such birds position themselves and time their flapping so faultlessly. According to the aerodynamic hypothesis, birds minimize their energy use when they move in a V-formation. In V-formation, birds have to monitor closely subtle changes in the wings of other birds in the flight and stroke accordingly. There are two main reasons why birds move in a V-formation. The first reason is that V-formation makes flight easier for them; they also fly in V-formation to catch-up with their leaders (Ning et al., 2011). A study by Voelkl et al. (2015) reveals that through V-formation, Squadrons of aircraft can save fuel a great deal, most scientists deduces that most birds are flying in V-formation save their energy. Different models that view flapping birds to be fixed aircraft guesstimate that birds save their energy by drafting off one another. Although, currents formed by aircraft are steadier than the swinging eddies from birds (Waldron, 2014). The project to introduce the endangered bald ibises to Europe illustrates V-formation. Researchers utilized Microsoft aircraft to illustrate how the birds migrated from their ancestral home in Australia to Italy. The GPS appliance identified the flight of every bird to be within thirty centimeters. The accelerometer indicated the timing of wings beat (Portugal et al., 2014). Just as estimated by aerodynamic, flying birds often position themselves and fly to the side and behind the bird in front. They time their flapping to catch-up with the front eddies. From the study, when the birds flew behind the other bird, they timed their wing beatings to lower the impact of downdraft originating from the front bird. Flying birds attempt to do more to save their energy. The findings of the study can also apply to other birds such as geese, pelicans, and Storks (Voelkl et al., 2015). Consequently, from the study by Waldron (2014), smaller birds generate more intricate wakes making drafting very tricky. The study estimated that bird saves between twenty percent to thirty percent energy while moving in V-formation. Scientist fails to understand how birds find this aerodynamic idea. However, they suspect that the birds align themselves by sensing their currents or by sight. Alternatively, birds may also fly around until they locate a place with low resistance. It is interesting to learn how the birds identify who sets the pace and how the leader's mistake can lead to the commotion in the flight (Ning et al., 2011). The figure illustrates V-formation of birds Additionally, a study conducted on fourteen young ibises moving at a V-formation found out that every bird placed themselves at an average of four feet behind the front bird. The birds also position themselves at an angle of forty-five degrees. This is the configuration need for the bird behind to catch up with the air generated by the bird in front. Through this, the birds can maintain their balance and stay efficiently throughout the flight (Portugal et al., 2014). Portugal et al. (2014), indicates that one of the aerodynamic benefits resulting from V-formation is the maintenance of wingtip to- wingtip distance. The study stated that the tip vortex from a beating wing should be different with that from the fixed wing. A study on geese flight indicated that the distance between one geese and the other was four meters. Commercial aviation may also benefit from V-formulation since it enables close visual communication and allows the pilot to clearly view of the front. According to Heppner (2005), V-formation created a region of turbulence-free air for flight and enabled close visual communication for flight members. Besides, it offers a clear view of the front. According to a study by Gould in Heppner (2005), the angle between the birds in V formation ranged between twenty-eight and forty-four degrees. Additionally, Eichner in Heppner (2005) compares the formations and turning movements of pigeons with akin alignments of war aircraft in battle formation. Bomber pilots during Second World War noticed extreme fuel economy when they navigated in a V-formation. By maintaining the tip of one wing in the wake of the front plane, a plane lowers its fuel consumption by close to eighteen percent according to journal Nature. Seiler et al. (2002) discloses that visual communication assumption postulates that V-formation geometry is correlated with renal characteristics of the bird and its location of the eye on the front. Seiler et al. (2002) record that, the location of the eye confines the field of vision thus motivating the utilization of V-formation. Improved visual communication helps the bird in different ways. To start with, it aids navigations by averaging the desired direction of every bird. Through this, the flock is capable of saving time and power by taking the direct route. Additionally, improved visual communication enhances the possibility that birds maintained during navigation between forage and roosting locations, hence allowing group activities to be undertaken at the destination. Lastly, improved communication helps the younger birds to be aware of different migratory paths and different feeding areas. Just as V-formation helps the birds to save time and energy, it can also help the aircraft to save time and fuel used in moving from one direction to the other since they have a direct route to their destination (Seiler et al., 2002). Most aircraft always have zig-zag, circuitous flight patterns. More time take in the air leads to delay accompanied by unnecessary C02 emissions and fuel burn. Through V-formation, aircraft can move more directly, safely, efficiently and quickly from one point to the other through optimal flight routes. Testing Airbus from Stockholm to Brussels takes twenty minutes faster, thus saving close to 725 kg of fuel and lowering emissions of CO2 by 2,283 kg (Ning et al., 2011). Heppner (2002) suggest that there exist two fundamental questions raised regarding V-formation flying. The first question regards the line formations more specifically the echelons, columns and the Vs. These line formations are often associated with large birds. Small birds like sparrows or warblers do not fly in Vs nor do other small birds that frequently travel in huge groups fly in columns. Heppner claims that there exist a strong correlation between flying in linear formation and necessity of economizing energy. Zou et al. (2014) postulate that, flying in V-formation assist navigation by averaging every bird’s direction preference. Moreover, the eyes of all navigating birds are relatively immobile and are often positioned laterally on the front. Thus, V- formation enables the birds to keep its’ neighbor’s image in maximum resolution, at the same time allowing the head to point forward. Hence, V-formation helps in maintaining the visual image of other birds within the flight. Additionally, aircraft can utilize 4D navigation ability to identify the most suitable route, making full use of prevailing atmospheric and weather conditions. Just like birds flying to the South save a lot of energy by assembling, the v-formation flight can also improve the efficiency of commercial planes (Cattivelli and Sayed, 2011). The figure below shows aircraft navigating in V-formation. Consequently, trailing aircraft can adequately “surf” on the energy originating from the wing of the front plane. This helps in lowering drag which reduces fuel consumption and reduces engine emissions. Additionally, planes to and from the same location may as well meet in the air before proceeding with their flight. For instance, trans-Atlantic flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas to the United Kingdom may meet over Utah and navigate to England in V-formation (Seiler, 2002). Future Airbus Airbus is progressing to measure the possibility of the future functions. Study with Stanford Universities employed aerodynamics and simulation analysis to investigate the optimum number of planes in several geometries. This encompasses a two plane formation, three planes “skein”( the V-formation plane associated with ducks and geese), echelon formation and inverted –V. The results indicated fuel savings between ten and twelve percent with the cut emission of up to twenty-five percent (He et al., 2015). Currently, Airbus is assessing cooperative departure scheduling and undertaking various researches into the control and stability of the plane. In parallel, modern breed of sensors capable of detecting the wake of prior planes and swift changes need to be developed. Several Avionic Technologies have since made this idea possible. The existence of lightweight remote sensing objects like LIDAR and Infrared cameras enable aircraft to realize the wake vortex. This is the turbulence originating from front planes. For Airbus to unconventionally keep station, they will have to communicate with one another. Real-time calculations, high speed, coordination, and communication would take inputs from several sources on the ground and on the air (He et al., 2015). According to He et al. (2015), in future, highly intellectual planes will be capable of self-organising and be able to identify the most reliable and environmentally sustainable paths and making proper use of prevailing atmospheric and weather conditions. Moreover, high –frequency paths will enable the planes to gain from navigating in V-formation like birds creating efficiency advancements due to reduced drag and use of low energy. Conclusion It is evident that V-formation has multiple benefits to commercial aviation industries. Through the incorporation of V-formation in flights, aircraft can quickly, efficiently and directly fly to their destinations saving time, lowering fuel consumption and limiting emissions of toxic substances such as CO2. The future Airbus flight will be of great quality with the incorporation of V-formation. Such planes will be capable of identifying most reliable and environmentally friendly paths and make good use of prevailing atmospheric and weather conditions. References Cattivelli, F. S., & Sayed, A. H. (2011). Modeling bird flight V-formations. IEEE Transactions on sign processing, 59(5), 2038-2051. He S., Perkins N., Kuo L. And Zarmehr A.(2015) Energy- Saving Formation Flight. International journal of innovative and research in technology and science. No.2321- 1156.Available at: http://ijirts.org/volume4issue3/IJIRTSV4I3007.pdf Heppner F. M. (2002). Avian Flight Formations. https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/jfo/v045n02/p0160-p0169.pdf Ning, A., Flanzer, T. C., & Kroo, I. M. (2011). The aerodynamic performance of extended formation flight. Journal of Aircraft, 48(3), 855-865. Ning, S. A., Kroo, I., Alonso, J. J., & Lele, S. K. (2011). Aircraft drag reduction through extended formation flight. Stanford University. Portugal, S. J., Fritz, J., Heese, S., Trobe, D., Hubel, T. Y., Voelkl, B., ... & Usherwood, J. R. (2014). Upwash exploitation and downwash avoidance by flap phasing in ibis formation flight. Nature, 505(7483), 399-402. Seiler P., Aniruddha P., and Hedric K. (2002). Analysis of bird formations. Available at: http://www.et.byu.edu/~beard/papers/reading/CDC02- coordination/SeilerPantKedrick02.pdf Voelkl, B., Portugal, S. J., Unsöld, M., Usherwood, J. R., Wilson, A. M., & Fritz, J. (2015). Matching times of leading and following proposed cooperation through direct reciprocity during V-formation flight in ibis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(7), 2115-2120. Waldron P. (2014). Why Birds Fly in a V Formation. Published on the Science/AAAS | News (http://news.sciencemag.org) Zou J., Sing B., and Subjeck J. (2014).Optimizing drag reduction and lift increase in V- formation flight. 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