Flight plan segmentation for en route diversion destinations

A system comprising:

• a display device onboard a vehicle;
• a user input device onboard the vehicle to obtain a segmentation criterion for dividing a travel plan into a number of segments;
• a data storage element maintaining diversion preference information;
• and
• a processing system coupled to the user input device, the data storage element, and the display device to:
• determine one or more density distributions within a geographic area encompassing a path defined by the travel plan based at least in part on the diversion preference information;
• transform the one or more density distributions from a true distance scale to an effective distance scale based at least in part on meteorological information pertaining to the travel plan;
• identify a location for a segment boundary along the travel plan based on an extremum of the one or more density distributions within a portion of the travel plan defined by the segmentation criterion on the effective distance scale;
• provide a graphical indication of a segment defined by the segment boundary on the display device;
• identify a recommended diversion destination with respect to the segment defined by the segment boundary;
• and
• provide a graphical indication of the recommended diversion destination associated with the segment defined by the segment boundary on the display device.

A method of presenting potential diversion airports for an aircraft, the method comprising:

• identifying, by a processing system onboard the aircraft, a segmentation criterion for dividing a flight plan into a number of segments;
• obtaining, by the processing system, diversion preference information;
• determining, by the processing system, one or more density distributions within a geographic area encompassing a flight path defined by the flight plan based at least in part on the diversion preference information;
• obtaining, by the processing system, meteorological conditions pertaining to the flight plan from a weather monitoring system;
• transforming, by the processing system, the one or more density distributions from a true distance scale to an effective distance scale based at least in part on the meteorological conditions, resulting in one or more scaled density distributions;
• identifying, by the processing system, a location for a segment boundary along the flight path based on an extremum of the one or more scaled density distributions within a portion of the flight path defined by the segmentation criterion on the effective distance scale;
• providing, by the processing system on a display device onboard the aircraft, a graphical indication of a flight path segment defined by the segment boundary;
• identifying, by the processing system, a recommended diversion airport with respect to the flight path segment defined by the segment boundary;
• and
• providing, by the processing system on the display device, a graphical indication of the recommended diversion airport associated with the flight path segment.