Automatic traversal time estimator for level flight in cruise

A system for predicting estimated times of arrival, the system comprising:

• a controller including one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions stored in a memory, the set of program instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:
• receive a flight plan for an aircraft;
• define a ground path for the aircraft based on the flight plan, wherein the ground path is defined with respect to an ellipsoidal model of Earth, wherein the ground path comprises a plurality of flight legs;
• integrate, using a plurality of integration steps, along the ground path for each of the plurality of flight legs using an energy-based method to generate aircraft states, wherein the plurality of integration steps are based on an integration step distance,
• wherein each integration step comprises:
• calculating:
• ground speed of the aircraft;
• traversal time of the aircraft;
• fuel consumed of the aircraft;
• and
• gross weight of the aircraft;
• aggregate the traversal time of each integration step to determine a total traversal time for each waypoint;
• determine an estimated time of arrival at each waypoint based on the total traversal time;
• and
• direct a transmission indicative of the estimated time of arrival at each waypoint.