Wander patterns for commercial aircraft at denver international airport

This paper presents a study of wander patterns for three different commercial aircraft (B-777, B-727, and DC-10) operated at Denver International Airport. Environmental and dynamic sensors (including two rows of position sensors) are present in runway 34R-16L. This study analyzed data collected by the position sensors in order to determine the aircraft gear path along the instrumented section. Wander pattern histograms were obtained using an automated system developed to calculate the aircraft gear lateral distribution at any longitudinal location between the two rows of position sensors. Wander patterns obtained from this airport for the B-727 and DC-10 were similar to previously published data. The wander pattern of the B-777 was found to be similar to the DC-10 in terms of mean position and standard deviation. Analysis of the wander patterns relative to the slab geometry shows that B-777 and DC-10 track the longitudinal construction joint, whereas the B-727 traverses down the middle of the slab.