Primary flight display with tactical 3-D display including three view slices

An electronic, moving, aircraft-centered map for imparting situational awareness to a flight crew of an aircraft and for aiding tactical decision making during a flight, said map comprising display indicia representative of position and flight path of an aircraft wherein said display indicia representative of position and flight path of an aircraft is formatted to give a three-dimensional illusion of depth;

• and
• one or more display indicia selected from the group consisting of designated course information, past position history of the aircraft, and potential threats to the aircraft;
• wherein the flight path indicia is selected from indicia representing one or more of the group consisting of:
• a predetermined flight plan;
• landing approach information;
• a flight path change required by ground control;
• a flight path change requested by a flight crew;
• a flight path change intended to avoid a potential collision with other aircraft;
• a flight path change intended to avoid potential flight into terrain;
• and a flight path change intended to avoid severe weather wherein said designated course information comprises a lateral heading component and optionally a component designating an angle in the vertical plane, and wherein said designated course information indicia is formatted to give a three-dimensional illusion of depth.

A flight management system comprising a three-dimensional map capable of being rendered on an electronic display, said three-dimensional map comprising a plurality of modes, said plurality of modes comprising:

• a tactical mode display format, said tactical mode display format comprising an electronic, moving, aircraft-centered map for imparting situational awareness to a flight crew of an aircraft and for aiding tactical decision making during a flight, said aircraft-centered map comprising display indicia representative of position and flight path of an aircraft, wherein said display indicia representative of position and flight path of an aircraft is formatted to give a three-dimensional illusion of depth;
• and
• a planning mode display format, wherein said planning mode display format comprises an electronic, moving, waypoint-centered map for aiding in the determination of the future flight plan of an aircraft, said waypoint-centered map comprising indicia representative of position and future flight plan of an aircraft, wherein said display indicia representative of position and future flight path of an aircraft is formatted to give a three-dimensional illusion of depth.
• wherein each of said plurality of modes is selectable by a user.

A method of displaying an electronic, aircraft-centered, moving map in a display area, said map comprising aircraft reference indicia and aircraft surroundings indicia representative of the surroundings of the aircraft, said surroundings of the aircraft comprising airspace and terrestrial features, said aircraft reference indicia being displayed to show the position of an aircraft with respect to its surroundings, said method comprising:

• providing an initial viewing format wherein the aircraft reference symbol is depicted in a predetermined initial position on the display area, and the aircraft surroundings indicia are formatted to give a three-dimensional illusion of depth and are depicted at a predetermined viewing angle with respect to the direction of flight of the aircraft;
• moving the aircraft reference indicia in the display area to represent changes in position and course of the aircraft, said aircraft surroundings indicia and said predetermined viewing angle remaining stationary, to provide substantially continuous and substantially immediate updates of position and course of the aircraft;
• providing a map update rate comprising a predetermined time interval whereupon the map is returned to the initial viewing format only upon the expiration of the predetermined time interval;
• upon expiration of the predetermined time interval, returning the map to the initial viewing format by jumping the aircraft symbol back to said initial position and slowly scrolling and/or rotating the aircraft surroundings indicia to said predetermined viewing angle, wherein said initial position and predetermined viewing angle are determined based on the present position and course of the aircraft.