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US 11,699,351 B2Granted
Flight assistant
AssigneeOtto Aero Company
InventorsSean Patrick Suiter, Richard Andrew Kruse
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and apparatus for assisting in determining the best course of action at any point inflight for an emergency. The system may monitor a plurality of parameters including atmospheric conditions along the flight path, ground conditions and terrain, conditions aboard the aircraft, and pilot/crew data. Based on these parameters, the system may provide continually updated information about the best available landing sites or recommend solutions to aircraft configuration errors. In case of emergency, the system may provide a pilot with a procedure for execution for landing the aircraft.
Claims25
An aircraft flight assistant, comprising:
- (a) a display for displaying an aircraft's effective range, said range size and shape adjusted for aircraft thrust, wind, and at least one of terrain or pilot performance;
- (b) a transmitter for at least one of transmitting an intent to divert or squawking emergency;
- (c) an interface;
- (d) at least one sensor capable of detecting at least one of a current or rate of change of either (1) thrust, airspeed, altitude, or attitude associated with an aircraft having flight envelope parameters or (2) an angle of attack associated with an aircraft having angle of attack limits;
- (e) a processor programmed to:
- determine the existence of a deviation associated with the detected at least one of a current or rate of change of either (1) thrust, airspeed, altitude, or attitude or (2) angle of attack;
- at least one of provide a voice notification, graphic display, audio tone, haptic notification, or correct the determined deviation if a magnitude of the deviation is at least one of (1) outside a preselected range, (2) outside an expected rate, or (3) in excess of the angle of attack limits;
- display on said display, based on at least one of the aircraft's current or rate of change of either (1) the thrust, airspeed, altitude, or attitude or (2) the angle of attack an effective range of the aircraft, said range size and shape adjusted for aircraft thrust, wind, and at least one of terrain or pilot performance;
- via the interface, at least one of automatically select an alternate landing site (ALS) or allow a user to select an alternate landing site (ALS) within the displayed effective range;
- cause the transmitter to transmit at least one of an aircraft emergency code or an alternate airport identifier in response to the alternate landing site (ALS) selection;
- based on at least one of the aircraft's (1) thrust, airspeed, altitude, and attitude or (2) angle of attack, create a route from a current position to the selected alternate landing site, the route accounting for terrain;
- cause the display to display the route and pitch profile to be flown in order to reach the selected alternate landing site;
- cause the display to display the estimated time to the selected alternate landing site;
- and
- continually adjust the displayed at least one of the selected ALS or effective range size and shape for aircraft thrust, wind, and at least one of terrain or pilot performance.
12 more elements
An aircraft flight assistant, comprising:
- a memory operable to store navigation and communication information associated with an aircraft, said aircraft having at least flight envelope parameters or angle of attack limits;
- an indicator for alerting a user to a deviation, said alert at least one of a voice notification, display, audio tone, or haptic notification;
- at least one sensor capable of determining a pitch or bank of the aircraft;
- and
- a processor coupled to the memory and to the display unit, the processor operable to execute a pilot command to:
- determine the existence of a deviation associated with the detected pitch or bank;
- at least one of (1) provide a voice notification, graphic display, audio tone or haptic notification, or (2) correct the determined deviation if a magnitude of the deviation is at least one of outside a preselected range, outside an expected rate, or in excess of the angle of attack limits;
- cause the aircraft to correct the determined deviation;
- select a destination for display within an effective range of the aircraft, at least one of the size or shape of said effective range determined by at least one of altitude or wind;
- create a route from a current position of the aircraft to the selected destination based on aircraft thrust, wherein thrust is at least one of zero thrust or partial thrust;
- cause the display to display the route and at least two of the vertical (yaw), lateral (pitch), or longitudinal (roll) axes of the aircraft;
- continue to determine a suitability of at least the selected destination based at least on the aircraft thrust and the current position relative to an expected position of the aircraft;
- and
- cause the indicator to present one or more notifications to the user, the notifications including:
- a continued viability of the route to the selected destination;
- and
- an action notification indicating whether user action is required.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.