Exhaust Emissions of Light Aircraft

The purpose of this study was to evaluate exhaust emissions of representative aircraft as they were flown in a normal manner. At the same time, the extent of afterburning was measured by sampling the exhaust plume downstream of the exhaust stack and comparing the plume composition, corrected for dilution, to the composition of the stack gases. Exhaust emissions from nine light aircraft were determined, using a nine-mode takeoff-cruise-landing (TCL) cycle developed for this study. Exhaust component concentrations and fuel consumption rates were measured for each mode during ten test flights per aircraft. Pollutant concentrations were converted to emission rates per pound of fuel, per minute, per mode, per TCL cycle, and per landing-takeoff (LTO) cycle.