System and method for 3d flight path display

A system for use on the flight deck of an aircraft comprising:

• a display operable for graphical display of data;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to the display and configured to receive:
• chart data from a source of navigational data, the chart data comprising at least two waypoints, the waypoints having location and altitude data defining a three-dimensional position;
• and
• aircraft position data from one or more aircraft sensors, the aircraft position data comprising location, altitude, heading, track, pitch and roll data;
• wherein the processor is configured to:
• determine the aircraft location;
• display a three-dimensional representation of a flight path between the at least two waypoints;
• determine an aircraft attitude from the aircraft position data;
• display a representation of the aircraft attitude relative to the three-dimensional representation of the flight path;
• and
• generate a warning when the aircraft is outside one or more of a horizontal displacement from the desired flight path, a vertical displacement from the flight path or both, the warning comprising one or more of a visual alert, an audible alert or both.

A method of generating a visual display for use on a display on flight deck of an aircraft, the method comprising:

• receiving three-dimensional terrain data from at least a terrain data base, the terrain data comprising altitude data and location data representative of geographical terrain features;
• receiving chart data from a source of navigational data, the chart data comprising at least two waypoints, the waypoints having location and altitude data defining a three-dimensional position;
• receiving aircraft position data from one or more aircraft sensors, the aircraft position data comprising location, altitude, heading, track, pitch and roll data;
• then:
• determining the aircraft location;
• displaying a three-dimensional representation of the terrain at least proximate the location of the aircraft, the representation derived from the altitude data and location data;
• displaying a three-dimensional representation of a flight path relative to the three-dimensional terrain determined as the path between the at least two waypoints;
• determining an aircraft attitude from the aircraft position data;
• displaying a representation of the aircraft attitude relative to the three-dimensional representation of the flight path and terrain;
• and
• generating a warning when the aircraft is outside one or more of a horizontal displacement from the desired flight path, a vertical displacement from the flight path or both.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a visual display generating process, the process comprising:

• receiving three-dimensional terrain data from at least a terrain data base, the terrain data comprising altitude data and location data representative of geographical terrain features;
• receiving chart data from a source of navigational data, the chart data comprising at least two waypoints, the waypoints having location and altitude data defining a three-dimensional position;
• receiving aircraft position data from one or more aircraft sensors, the aircraft position data comprising location, altitude, heading, track, pitch and roll data;
• then:
• determining the aircraft location;
• displaying a three-dimensional representation of the terrain at least proximate the location of the aircraft, the representation derived from the altitude data and location data;
• displaying a three-dimensional representation of a flight path relative to the three-dimensional terrain determined as the path between the at least two waypoints;
• determining an aircraft attitude from the aircraft position data;
• displaying a representation of the aircraft attitude relative to the three-dimensional representation of the flight path and terrain;
• and
• generating a warning when the aircraft is outside one or more of a horizontal displacement from the desired flight path, a vertical displacement from the flight path or both.