Aircraft piloting method and device for picking up a vertical profile of a flight plan
AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH
InventorsPatrice Rouquette, Erwan Cadot, Martin Legay
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft piloting method and device for picking up a vertical profile of a flight plan. The device combines a manual piloting device that enables a pilot to control the start of the picking-up of a vertical profile and an automatic piloting device for automatically ending the vertical profile picking-up and following the vertical profile.
Claims11
A method of piloting an aircraft to enable the aircraft to pick up and follow a vertical profile of a flight plan, whereby a first piloting mode is used enabling the aircraft to automatically pick up and automatically follow said vertical profile, and a second piloting mode is used enabling the crew of the aircraft to control the picking-up of said vertical profile, the method comprising:
- A/ in a first phase:
- a) piloting the aircraft according to said second piloting mode enabling the crew of the aircraft to control the picking-up of said vertical profile;
- b) determining automatically in real time an engagement zone which is adjacent, by a predetermined value, to an engagement limit zone on the side from which the aircraft arrives at the vertical profile, said engagement limit zone being calculated in real time according to the vertical speed of the aircraft and an angle between a pick-up path and the vertical profile;
- c) determining automatically the current position of the aircraft;
- and
- d) automatically comparing this current position to said engagement zone;
- and
- B/ automatically initiating a second phase immediately after said current position of the aircraft is located in said engagement zone, in which the aircraft is piloted according to said first piloting mode which enables the aircraft to automatically pick up and automatically follow said vertical profile, wherein:
- within the engagement limit zone, the vertical profile cannot be picked up without overshooting it,
- the engagement limit zone is defined about a reference path and surrounds the vertical profile, and
- the vertical distance between the upper boundary of the engagement zone and the upper boundary of the engagement limit zone corresponds to a predetermined value.
A device for piloting an aircraft, which is intended to pilot the aircraft so that it picks up and follows a vertical profile of a flight plan, said device comprising:
- a first piloting section that applies a first piloting mode enabling the aircraft to automatically pick up and automatically follow said vertical profile;
- a second piloting section that applies a second piloting mode which enables the crew of the aircraft to control the picking-up of said vertical profile;
- a first determining section that determines an engagement zone;
- a second determining section that determines the current position of the aircraft;
- and
- a comparator that compares this current position to said engagement zone, wherein:
- said first determining section automatically determines, in real time, said engagement zone which is adjacent, by a predetermined value, to an engagement limit zone on the side from which the aircraft arrives at the vertical profile, said engagement limit zone being calculated in real time according to the vertical speed of the aircraft and an angle between a pick-up path and the vertical profile;
- and
- said device also comprises a switch that is linked to said first and second piloting sections and which is automatically controlled by said comparator so as to automatically apply to said aircraft:
- said second piloting mode applied by said second piloting section in an initial first phase;
- and
- said first piloting mode applied by said first piloting section in a second phase, which begins automatically immediately after said current position of the aircraft is located in said engagement zone, wherein:
- within the engagement limit zone, the vertical profile cannot be picked up without overshooting it,
- the engagement limit zone is defined about a reference path and surrounds the vertical profile, and
- the vertical distance between the upper boundary of the engagement zone and the upper boundary of the engagement limit zone corresponds to a predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.