Vertical windshear detection for aircraft

Vertical windshear detection apparatus for aircraft comprising:

• (a) means for providing a signal representative of true airspeed,
• (b) means for providing a signal representative of pitch angle of the aircraft,
• (c) means for providing a signal representative of angle of attack of the aircraft,
• (d) means for providing a signal representative of vertical acceleration of the aircraft,
• (e) means for combining said pitch angle signal and said angle of attack signal to provide a signal representative of flight path angle,
• (f) means for deriving a signal representative of the rate of change of airspeed from said true airspeed signal,
• (g) means for deriving a signal representative of pitch angle rate from said pitch angle signal,
• (h) means for deriving a signal representative of angle of attack rate from said angle of attack signal,
• (i) means responsive to said airspeed rate signal and said fligh path angle rate signal for deriving a product signal thereof,
• (j) means responsive to said pitch angle rate signal and said angle of attack rate signal for deriving a signal representative of the rate of change of flight path angle,
• (k) means responsive to said true airspeed signal and said rate of change of flight path angle signal for deriving a further product signal,
• (l) means responsive to said above mentioned product signals for providing a further combined signal representative of vertical acceleration relative to an air mass proximate to said aircraft,
• (m) means for algebraically combining said further combined signal and said vertical acceleration signal to provide a signal representative of a vertical component of said windshear,
• (n) means responsive to said signal representative of a vertical component of windshear for providing a first timing signal representative of an actual duration thereof,
• (o) means for providing a signal representative of a predetermined value of an aircraft parameter corresponding to a power to weight ratio,
• (p) means responsive to said aircraft parameter signal and said vertical component of windshear signal for generating a second timing signal representative of a quotient thereof having a value corresponding to a computed duration, and
• (q) means for algebraically combining said second timing signal and said timing signal to generate an algebraic difference signal indicative of the detection of a vertical windshear condition when said difference signal is equal to or greater than a value of zero.