Airbus and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are flying two planes close together so that one can 'sniff' the emissions from the other's engines while flying on sustainable aviation fuel.
The test plane flying on various mixtures of SAF is an Airbus A321XLR, accompanied by a modified Falcon 20, a business jet from French manufacturer Dassault. The Falcon flies as close as 100 meters to the A321 to capture data from its engines.
Sustainable fuels, made from a variety of processes including recycled oils and biomass, are of interest to the aviation industry for their possibility of significantly reducing carbon emissions, but while most testing has focused on whether they can be safely substituted for all or part of traditional fuel, there has been less research until now on their own emission characteristics.
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