Method and system for providing flight guidance for an aircraft

A system for providing vertical flight guidance for an aircraft, the system comprising:

• a processing unit;
• and
• a non-transitpry computer-readable memory having stored thereon program instructions executable by the processing unit for:
• providing vertiacal flight guidance for the aircraft in an altitude capture mode for commanding the aircraft to capture a target altitude;
• detecting at least one engine inoperative condition while in the altitude capture mode;
• in response to detecting the at least one engine inoperative condition, transitioning the vertical flight guidance for the aircraft from the altitude capture mode to a flight level change mode and providing vertical flight guidance in the flight level change mode for commanding the aircraft to capture the target altitude while maintaining airspeed of the aircraft substantially at a target airspeed,
• wherein detecting the at least one engine inoperative condition comprises detecting the at least one engine inoperative condition when airspeed of the aircraft is below an airspeed threshold, and
• wherein the flight level change mode is a second flight level change mode having a higher vertical acceleration limit than a vertical acceleration limit of a first flight level change mode and a lower minimum vertical speed level than a minimum vertical speed level of the first flight level change mode;
• and wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processing unit for transitioning the second flight level change mode to the first flight level change mode when airspeed is above the airspeed threshold.

A system for providing vertical flight guidance for an aircraft, the system comprising:

• a processing unit;
• and
• a non-transitpry computer-readable memory having stored thereon program instructions executable by the processing unit for:
• providing vertiacal flight guidance for the aircraft in an altitude capture mode for commanding the aircraft to capture a target altitude;
• detecting at least one engine inoperative condition while in the altitude capture mode;
• in response to detecting the at least one engine inoperative condition, transitioning the vertical flight guidance for the aircraft from the altitude capture mode to a flight level change mode and providing vertical flight guidance in the flight level change mode for commanding the aircraft to capture the target altitude while maintaining airspeed of the aircraft substantially at a target airspeed,
• wherein detecting the at least one engine inoperative condition comprises detecting the at least one engine inoperative condition when complemented deceleration of the aircraft drops below a deceleration threshold,
• wherein the flight level change mode is a second flight level change mode having a higher vertical acceleration limit than a vertical acceleration limit of a first flight level change mode and a lower minimum vertical speed level than a minimum vertical speed level of the first flight level change mode;
• and
• wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processing unit for transitioning the second flight level change mode to the first flight level change mode when complemented deceleration is above the deceleration threshold.