During the Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions, or ACCESS II, flight tests, researchers in chase aircraft flew as close as 300 feet behind the NASA DC-8 in the lead.
This researcher is in NASA’s HU-25C Guardian jet, which is based at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, but the flight tests took place at a NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center facility in California.
The chase aircraft took measurements on emissions and studied contrail formation as the DC-8 burned either JP-8 jet fuel, or a 50-50 blend of JP-8 and renewable alternative fuel of hydro processed esters and fatty acids produced from camelina plant oil.
ACCESS II confirms that the biofuel results in at least 50 percent reduction in soot emissions when burning the blended fuel as opposed to standard jet fuel. The goal of the research is to help lead to more environmentally friendly aircraft designs.
