Holding patterns at dusty airports particularly detrimental to engines: research

Holding patterns for airports in dusty regions are particularly potentially damaging to aircraft engines, analysis of dust ingestion at 10 airports worldwide has found. Arrival holds contributed over 50% of the total dose ingested by the engine core, according to research led by the University of Reading, which also determined that the dose during departure was 24% lower than during arrival. This is the result of aircraft spending a prolonged period, some 10min, in the hold at altitudes which frequently coincide with – or lie close to – maximum dust concentrations. While a previous study in 2020 had calculated engine dust dose at Doha for an Airbus A380, the new research says an assessment of dust at a wider range of airports had not been undertaken. It examines 10 airport locations selected for their proximity to dusty regions and air traffic levels: Phoenix, Marrakech, Niamey, Dubai, Delhi, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing, Sydney, and the Canary Islands. The dust doses were found to be largest in the June-August periods, followed by March-May, for most airports, although the latter period was the most significant for Beijing and Niamey. Calculated arrival doses were greatest for Delhi in June-August, at 6.6g, followed by Niamey in March-May at 4.7g, and Dubai in June-August with 4.3g. “Dust doses are mostly largest in summer for descent,” the study states. It points out that while core ingestion of 5g of mineral dust is a “negligible problem”, the cumulative dose – some 10kg for 1,000 landings and departures at a dusty hub – begins to “represent more of a problem”, accelerating deterioration of engine performance and reducing component life.<br/>