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US 12,704,847 B2Granted
Systems and methods for determining emergency escape paths for aircraft
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsMark David McCabe, Alexander Bellemare-Davis, Meng Xi Hu, Yun Chu, Tina Pan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system (for determining one or more emergency escape paths for one or more emergencies that can occur during a flight of an aircraft) includes a control unit configured to automatically determine the one or more emergency escape paths for the one or more emergencies based on performance capabilities of the aircraft, terrain within at least a portion of an original flight path or the one or more emergency escape paths, and obstacles within at least a portion of the original flight path or the one or more emergency escape paths.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- an aircraft configured to output an emergency signal indicative of an emergency that occurs during a flight;
- and
- a control unit configured to:
- receive the emergency signal from the aircraft, and
- in response to receiving the emergency signal from the aircraft, automatically determine an emergency escape path for the emergency based on emergency data including information regarding the emergency, performance capabilities of the aircraft, terrain within at least a portion of an original flight path or the emergency escape path, and obstacles within at least a portion of the original flight path or the emergency escape path, wherein the automatically determine includes automatically matching the emergency with specific emergency information within the emergency data, and automatically matching the emergency escape path associated with the specific emergency information, wherein the control unit further automatically determines the emergency escape path to comply with specified minimum performance requirements, which define a lower limit for flight safety, wherein the specified minimum performance requirements include flight path clearance margins from terrain and obstructions during all flight phases, wherein the control unit further automatically determines the emergency escape path based on performance aspects of the aircraft, safety requirements, and operational capability for the flight,
- wherein the aircraft is configured to be operated according to the emergency escape path.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- outputting, by an aircraft, an emergency signal indicative of an emergency that occurs during a flight;
- receiving, by a control unit, the emergency signal from the aircraft;
- in response to said receiving the emergency signal from the aircraft, automatically determining, by the control unit, an emergency escape path for the emergency based on emergency data including information regarding the emergency, performance capabilities of the aircraft, terrain within at least a portion of an original flight path or the emergency escape path, and obstacles within at least a portion of the original flight path or the emergency escape path, wherein said automatically determining includes automatically matching the emergency with specific emergency information within the emergency data, and automatically matching the emergency escape path associated with the specific emergency information, wherein said automatically determining further comprises automatically determining the emergency escape path to comply with specified minimum performance requirements, which define a lower limit for flight safety, wherein the specified minimum performance requirements include flight path clearance margins from terrain and obstructions during all flight phases, and wherein said automatically determining further comprises automatically determining the emergency escape path based on performance aspects of the aircraft, safety requirements, and operational capability for the flight;
- and
- operating the aircraft according to the emergency escape path.
2 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause one or more control units comprising a processor, to perform operations comprising:
- receiving an emergency signal indicative of an emergency that occurs during a flight of an aircraft;
- in response to said receiving the emergency signal, automatically determining one or more emergency escape paths for one or more emergencies based on emergency data including information regarding the emergency, performance capabilities of an aircraft, terrain within at least a portion of an original flight path or the one or more emergency escape paths, and obstacles within at least a portion of the original flight path or the one or more emergency escape paths, wherein said automatically determining includes automatically matching the emergency with specific emergency information within the emergency data, and automatically matching the emergency escape path associated with the specific emergency information, wherein said automatically determining further comprises automatically determining the emergency escape path to comply with specified minimum performance requirements, which define a lower limit for flight safety, wherein the specified minimum performance requirements include flight path clearance margins from terrain and obstructions during all flight phases, and wherein said automatically determining further comprises automatically determining the emergency escape path based on performance aspects of the aircraft, safety requirements, and operational capability for the flight;
- and
- operating the aircraft according to the emergency escape path.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.