Analysis of s-turn approaches at John F. Kennedy Airport

This study analyzed tracking data for arrival flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) during the period of August 16 to August 21, 2009 to identify s-turn maneuvers and to characterize s-turn trajectories. The s-turn maneuver appears in the tracking data as a sequence of turns alternating in heading range. S-turns can arise as an alternative path stretching technique to vectoring and holding. This study developed analysis algorithms and associated metrics to automatically assess the occurrence conditions and operational impact of s-turn trajectories, and determined they (1) exhibit terminal airspace transit times several minutes greater than non s-turn trajectories, (2) occur in all runway-metering fix combinations, (3) occur in merging and in-trail flight conditions, (4) occur at numerous distances from the airport, (5) do not exhibit significantly different inter-flight time spacing at the runway, and (6) the lateral spatial extent of s-turn maneuvers can be quite large. Analysis remains to assess the separation of s-turn trajectories from others throughout the maneuver, and to identify and characterize other such flight maneuvers and behavior in terminal airspace.