Altering Planes, and the Way They Fly, to Save Fuel

FOR the aviation industry, its fate inextricably linked to the price of oil, fuel conservation is more than environmentally sound

The most significant improvements come from broad changes in the way planes fly. Using global positioning information, airliners fly shorter, more direct routes to destinations rather than following rigid paths that can take them miles out of the way as they move from one ground-based radar beacon to another. Special landing procedures called continuous descent approaches let pilots reduce fuel to the engines to the idle setting as they begin their descent.