Technology Emerging to Save Billions in Air-Fuel Costs.

Within the next few weeks, advanced-stage testing is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on a new technology that will enable groups of jets to fly long distances in near-perfect alignment, with their wings almost touching, thereby saving the airline industry billions of dollars in annual fuel costs.

The savings will result from the aerodynamic lift, or "upwash," that trailing jets will get, the same lift that NASCAR drivers and bicyclists have exploited for decades.

Ultimately, engineers anticipate the alignment will be so precise that the trailing planes' wing tips will be no farther than two and a half feet apart.

"This is a breakthrough," said Gerard Schkolnik, project manager for NASA. "The technology we're developing is very exciting. If we could get everybody to jump on board with the technology, we're talking about a very large savings in fuel costs and emissions."

Highly experienced fliers actually began riding the crest of "upwash" during World War II, but the practice of manually positioning themselves a couple plane-lengths behind another plane for long periods of time proved too tiresome and dangerous.

But within five years, airlines could be saving as much as 15 percent in fuel costs through use of onboard Global Positioning System computers that automatically keep the trailing planes aligned in the vortex streaming from the lead aircraft.

The so-called Autonomous. Formation Flight program, a joint venture between Boeing Co. and UCLA, is expected to cost only $15 million to $20 million.

But the savings it could yield are significant.

A study of cargo planes owned by FedEx Corp., which has expressed interest in the program, showed that $200,000 to $300,000 could be slashed from the $1 million to $1.5 million in annual fuel costs for each of the 662 planes in its worldwide fleet, officials said.

Transcontinental commercial airlines could save as much as $500,000 per plane annually, according to Schkolnik.

With each major airline - cargo and passenger - having active fleets of several hundred planes, the annual savings would easily run into the billions.

As for the technology, it was originally created by El Segundo-based Rockwell International Corp., and then the AFF computer design was enhanced by Boeing after it merged with Rockwell.

The technology has been in the planning and development stages, primarily at Edwards Air Force Base, for four years.

UCLA designed and wrote the software for the computers' GPS sensors, which calculate the distances between the planes' wing tips.

Those sensors receive signals from satellites acting like lighthouses in orbit, monitoring the flight patterns in other planes.

"There's a pilot in each F-18 (jet), but when the system engages, it's basically on auto pilot," said Greg Larson, a Boeing program manager. "It's like we're doing a Blue Angels' type of flight."

Early success

Testing of a prototype GPS systems got off to a good start last December when two Air Force F-18 fighter jet pilots were able to keep their wing tips within five feet of either side of the desired flight pattern.

In July, engineers will examine the power of the "vortex" - which streams off the wing tips like a miniature, horizontal tornado - in hopes of determining the ideal location in which the planes should fly.

By the summer of 2002, project engineers hope to have improved the GPS sensors so they can measure the plane's positions within six inches, enabling the computers to align wing tips within two and a half feet of each other.

NASA engineers believe the system could be mass produced for less than $250,000 per plane, with as many as seven jets flying in a single formation.

Plans call for commercial cargo carriers to begin using the AFF system within five years, with commercial passenger and military planes to follow within a decade.

Coordinated efforts

Project staffers envision joint agreements so that planes owned by competing airlines could fly in formation when traveling to the same destination.

Before the technology could be installed industry-wide, however, engineers realize they must first convince the Federal Aviation Administration and air-traffic controllers that the program is safe.

"It's a cultural change," said Schkolnik. "Currently, we treat aircraft individually, maintaining safe separation from other aircraft. So there is quite a bit of inertia that needs to be overcome to have aircraft flying in formation as part of standard procedures."

Environmentalists should also be happy with the program.

Engineers estimated that annual emissions reductions for each plane would total 100,000 pounds for nitrous oxide compounds, which deplete the ozone layer, and 10 million pounds of the carbon dioxides that contribute to global warming.

Also, the technology might help ease traffic jams in the sky.