Procedures and Issues of a Restrictive Runway Configuration at Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport

Abstract

This paper documents the Dallas/Fort Worth operations in northwest flow including the transition to and from this configuration, to shed some light on issues needing further attention. Documenting pilot and air traffic contro ller decision logic during these transitions can be used to create realistic air traffic models. While the Dallas/Fort Worth airport is the main subject for this paper, delays are seen at any airport where a restrictive runway configuration used during periods of non-prevailing winds. The two main sources of data were the quantitative flight data from the terminal area and en route airspace regions and insights into the qualitative decision-making proce ss provided by air traffic management subject matter experts. Archived flight data, such as aircraft tracks and landing runways, were used to plot aircraft approaches, holding patt erns, and vectoring. As expected, the primary factor in causing delay was the reduced number of runways. Secondary factors such as reduced approach precision and a high air t raffic controller workload arising from an uncommon runway configuration also contributed.