A runway used for landing only is used by two types of aircraft, one with an airspeed of 120 knots (nautical miles/hr) and the other with an airspeed of 150 knots. The length of common approach path is 6 nautical miles. A minimum distance separation of 3 nautical miles must be maintained by aircraft on the common approach path. Runway occupancy time for both types of aircraft is 60 seconds.
a. Use space-time diagrams to determine the time separations (in seconds) at the runway threshold for each aircraft pair. Present your results in matrix form.
b. If 40 percent of the aircraft travel at 120 knots and 60 percent at 150 knots, and the buffer matrix below is used (data in seconds), what is the capacity of the runway in aircraft per hour?
Speed of lead aircraft
120 knots 150 knots
Speed of trailing 120 knots 3315
aircraft 150 knots 3333