System and method for increasing aircraft search and rescue mission effectiveness

An aircraft search and rescue mission effectiveness method, comprising the steps of:

• supplying beam data from a searchlight assembly that is adapted to be mounted on an aircraft and that is configured to emit a light beam toward, and thus illuminate, a point of interest, the beam data including at least light beam orientation and distance from the searchlight assembly to the point of interest;
• processing, in a searchlight processing system, the beam data and aircraft data that includes at least aircraft location and aircraft attitude to generate and supply geographic coordinate data for the point of interest;
• commanding, via the searchlight processing system, a display device to render an image that includes at least a graphical representation of the point of interest and the geographic coordinate data for the point of interest;
• receiving, at the searchlight processing system, a user input command from a user interface device;
• transmitting, via the searchlight processing system, the geographic coordinate data to one or more aircraft avionics systems in response to receiving the user input command;
• storing the geographic data associated with a plurality of points of interest;
• retrieving, in response to receiving a second user input command from the user interface, the geographic data associated with the plurality of points of interest;
• generating, in response to receiving a third user input command from the user interface, a defined search area geometry around the geographic data associated with the plurality of points of interest;
• and
• commanding the display device to render an image that includes the defined search area geometry and the geographic data associated with the plurality of points of interest.

An aircraft, comprising:

• a fuselage;
• a display device disposed within the fuselage and responsive to display commands to render one or more images;
• a searchlight assembly mounted on the fuselage and configured to emit a light beam toward, and thus illuminate, a point of interest, the searchlight assembly further configured to supply beam data, the beam data including at least light beam orientation and distance from the searchlight assembly to the point of interest;
• a searchlight processing system coupled to receive aircraft data that includes at least aircraft location and aircraft attitude, the searchlight processing system in operable communication with the display device and the searchlight assembly and configured to:
• (i) process the aircraft data and the beam data to generate and supply geographic coordinate data for the point of interest,
• (ii) command the display device to render an image that includes at least a graphical representation of the point of interest and the geographic coordinate data for the point of interest,
• (iii) receive a user input command from a user interface device,
• (iv) in response to receiving the user input command, transmit the geographic coordinate data to one or more aircraft avionics systems,
• (v) store the geographic data associated with a plurality of points of interest,
• (vi) in response to receiving a second user input command from the user interface, to retrieve the geographic data associated with the plurality of points of interest,
• (vii) in response to receiving a third user input command from the user interface, to generate a defined search area geometry around the geographic data associated with the plurality of points of interest, and
• (viii) command the display device to render an image that includes the defined search area geometry and the geographic data associated with the plurality of points of interest.