• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.34-43
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• 2021

Wake turbulence generated by the lead aircraft has a significant impact on the following aircraft and it is has been considered a key factor to consider whenin determining the longitudinal separation between the aircraft. ICAO classifies aircraft into four wake turbulence categories based on the maximum takeoff weight and provides the longitudinal separation minima for each category. Due to richer measured data and better understanding of physical processes, it is raised that classifying aircraft with only four wake turbulence grades is imprecise and leads to over-separation in many instances. In this regards, much research on a new method of classifying Wake Turbulence Category(Re-CAT) has been done by EURO-CONTROL, FAA, and ICAO. The main purpose of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the existing wake turbulence separation standards with Re-CAT in terms of departure capacity and the resulting benefits of Re-CAT using the data from the Incheon International Airport. The results show that EUROCONTROL and new ICAO standards have the greater effect on reducing wake turbulence separation, compared to the FAA RE-CAT standards. It is also concluded that Re-CAT presents different results of wake turbulence separation depending on the flight characteristics of each airport.