Continuous descent approach (CDA), also known as optimized profile descent (OPD), is a method by which aircraft

approach Approach may refer to: Aviation * Visual approach * Instrument approach * Final approach Music * ''Approach'' (album), by Von Hertzen Brothers * '' The Approach'', an album by I:Scintilla Other uses * Approach Beach, a gazetted beach in Ting Ka ...

airports prior to landing. It is designed to reduce fuel consumption and noise compared to other conventional descents. Instead of approaching an airport in a stairstep fashion, throttling down, and requesting permission to descend to each new (lower) altitude, CDA allows for a smooth, constant-angle descent to landing. A continuous descent approach starts from the top of descent, i.e., at cruise altitude, and allows the aircraft to fly its individual optimal vertical profile down to runway threshold. Some airports apply constraints to this individual optimal profile.

United Kingdom

The approach to

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

uses CDA, particularly at night, to minimize

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mai ...

. It is also used at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...

References

{{reflist Air traffic control