BaseOps User's Guide, Chapter 17: Editing Flight Profiles

A flight profile describes the operational characteristics (height, power setting, airspeed, etc.) of an aircraft as it flies along a flight track.

In BaseOps, flight profiles are defined as a sequence of one or more flight profile segments: sections of a flight track where the operational characteristics are either constant or vary linearly. Each segment begins with a profile point: a location where the operational characteristics are specified. The location of profile points along a flight track is specified by the linear track distance, measured from the start of the track.

To work with flight profiles, choose Flight Profiles from the object type selector dropdown list. Flight profiles can be added, duplicated, and deleted as described in Working with the List Pane.

To edit a flight profile, first select it in the object list, then edit it in the text pane. Flight profiles have numerous properties. These are listed below, grouped for easy reference.

Profile Name and Notes

• Name - A short (10 characters maximum) name that uniquely and unambiguously identifies the flight profile.

• Long Name - A one-line (80 characters maximum) name for the flight profile. The long name can be more descriptive than the short name. It is optional: if you do not supply a long name, the short name will be used in its place when necessary.

• Notes - Miscellaneous information about the flight profile. There is no restriction on the length of notes. Press the Enter key to insert additional lines.

Operation Counts

The operation counts specify the average number of times per calendar day that the flight profile is flown during the day, evening, and night. Note that day, evening, and night are precisely defined periods: see Operations. The evening period will be displayed only if the number of daily periods for this BaseOps case is three.

Flight Track Information

• Flight Track - The flight track associated with this flight profile. Select the track from the dropdown list. Press the Add Flight Track button to add a new track. Press the Go To Flight Track button to edit the selected track. See Editing Flight Tracks for more information.

  The length of the selected flight track is displayed.

• Displacement - The takeoff and/or landing runway displacements associated with this flight profile. The displacements that are requested (takeoff, landing, or both) will depend on the flight track type (arrival, departure, etc.).

  The takeoff displacement is the distance, measured from the beginning of the runway, to the point where the aircraft begins its takeoff roll. For all flight track types except for arrival, the takeoff displacement is the origin from which flight profile cumulative track distances are measured.

  The landing displacement is the distance, measured from the beginning of the runway, to the point where the aircraft touches down. For arrival flight tracks, the landing displacement is the origin from which flight profile cumulative track distances are measured.

  You can change the units used to specify runway displacements: see Setting the Case's Physical Units.

  Warning:

  Currently, the NMap noise model implements runway displacements incorrectly. Instead of shifting the flight profile points along the flight track, NMap instead shifts the entire flight track down the runway. When an updated version of NMap becomes available, a new version of Noisemap will be released.

Aircraft Information

• A/C Category - The aircraft category is used to group flight profiles into broad categories. Specifying the category is not strictly necessary. However, doing so is useful for organizational and documentation purposes.

  The categories are defined in the A/C Category group: see Using Groups. If desired, you can add additional categories.

• Aircraft - The aircraft associated with this flight profile.

• Engine - The aircraft engine associated with this flight profile. The available engines will depend on the selected aircraft.

• Power Units - The units used to specify engine power settings for this flight profile. The available units will depend on the selected aircraft and engine.

Runup Information

Some aircraft perform a static runup of their engines before beginning a takeoff roll. The runup is the duration of this static runup.

The runup is displayed only for certain aircraft when operating on departure and interfacility flight tracks.

You can change the units used to specify times: see Setting the Case's Physical Units.

Note:

Segments

A flight profile's segments are specified using a table, where each table row represents the profile point of a segment. The following table columns are defined. Note that only those columns applicable to the flight profile's aircraft will be displayed.

• Distance - The location of this profile point, specified as a linear distance along the flight track, measured from the runway displacement.

  You can change the units used to specify track distances: see Setting the Case's Physical Units.

• Height - The aircraft height at this profile point. Type the height, then select whether the height is above ground level (AGL) or above mean sea level (MSL).

  You can change the units used to specify heights: see Setting the Case's Physical Units.

• Power - The aircraft engine power setting at this profile point. Type the numeric power level, then choose the operation power description (for example, "Takeoff"). For some operation power descriptions (for example, "Afterburner"), the numeric power level is fixed and cannot be changed.

  Power settings are applicable only to NMap aircraft.

  The operation power description is used to select which Noisefile interpolation curve to use. Expert users can select the interpolation curve directly by selecting either "Variable" or "Parallel" in place of the operation power description.

  The available operation power descriptions will depend on the flight profile's aircraft and engine. Information about the Noisefile record that corresponds to each operation power description is displayed below the segment table.

  

  The Range column specifies the range of power levels for which NMap can extrapolate the measured Noisefile noise data. You can enter power settings outside of this range (and are encouraged to do so to accurately record real-world flight parameters). Power levels are clipped to the extrapolation range when NMap is run.

  The Interpolation and OPC columns specify the Noisefile interpolation method and operational power code, respectively.

• Airspeed - The aircraft airspeed at this profile point, in knots. Airspeeds are not applicable to rotary-wing NMap aircraft.

• Yaw Angle -
  Angle of Attack -
  Roll Angle -
  Nacelle Angle - The aircraft orientation angles, in degrees. These are applicable only to RNM aircraft.

• Notes - Miscellaneous information about this profile segment. Notes are often used to record the aircraft configuration (gear, flaps, etc.).

The triangle icon indicates the selected flight profile segment. To select another segment, either click somewhere on that segment's row, or navigate to that segment using the Tab key.

To add a new segment, either press the Add Segment button , or press Ctrl + A. The new segment will be added directly below the selected segment. Alternatively, using the Add mouse tool , click on the location along the flight track where the new profile point should be added. See The Add Mouse Tool for more information.

To delete the selected segment, either press the Delete Segment button , or press Ctrl + Del.

To move the selected segment up or down in the table, press the Move Up and Move Down buttons and , or press Ctrl + U and Ctrl + D.

When you add a new segment, BaseOps simply duplicates the selected segment. If desired, you can use the quick-add feature, which lets you efficiently add a segment while simultaneously specifying its properties. To add a segment, type a quick-add command into the text box, then press the Add Segment button or the Enter key.

The quick-add commands are somewhat cryptic, but once learned, they allow you to add segments very quickly. Frequent users will find it worthwhile spending a few minutes learning the quick-add commands. To display a list of the quick-add commands that you can use, either press the Quick-Add Hints button , or press Ctrl + H.

Tip:

The Standard Profile Library

BaseOps ships with a library of standard flight profiles for many aircraft. These default profiles are useful if you are unable to obtain the actual flight profile flown by an aircraft at the site you are modeling.

To load a standard profile from the library, press the Load Standard Profile button. A dialog box appears, listing the available standard profiles that apply to your profile's aircraft, engine, and flight track type.

Select the desired profile, then press OK. The following properties in your flight profile will be updated to match the library profile.

• Power Units

• Runway Displacement(s)

• Runup Duration

• Profile Segments

If desired, you can save your own flight profiles to the standard profile library. To save the current profile, press the Save as Standard Profile button. A dialog box appears, asking for the name that this profile will be known by in the library.

Tip: