Methods and systems for displaying predicted downpath parameters in a vertical profile display

A method for presenting operational information associated with an aircraft, the method comprising:

• displaying, on a display device of the aircraft, a vertical profile for at least a portion of a flight plan for the aircraft, wherein the vertical profile comprises a graphical display of a corresponding portion of the flight plan, wherein the corresponding portion of the flight plan comprises an altitude profile;
• displaying a graphical display of an instantaneous position of the aircraft on the display device;
• displaying a graphical user interface on the display device, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a list of user-selectable operating parameters, and wherein the graphical user interface is configured to receive user selections of the user-selectable operating parameters;
• obtaining a user-selected first operating parameter from the list of user-selectable operating parameters, in response to user manipulation of the graphical user interface;
• determining, with a processing architecture, predicted values for the user-selected first operating parameter for the aircraft in a manner that is influenced by current status information for the aircraft, the predicted values of the user-selected first operating parameter corresponding to the portion of the flight plan displayed on the display device;
• displaying the predicted values for the user-selected first operating parameter on the display device in conjunction with the vertical profile;
• and
• dynamically updating the vertical profile display based upon continuously obtaining the current status information for the aircraft and calculating the predicted values for the user-selected first operating parameter, wherein the dynamically updating is performed with the processing architecture.

A system on board an aircraft, the system comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a flight management system coupled to the display device, wherein the flight management system is configured to:
• display a vertical profile display on the display device, the vertical profile display corresponding to an altitude profile for a portion of a flight plan for the aircraft, and the vertical profile display comprising a navigational map, and a graphical user interface comprising a menu of user-selectable operating parameters;
• identify, in response to user interaction with the graphical user interface, a user-selected first operating parameter;
• obtain current status information for the aircraft, comprising current values of selected operational parameters;
• calculate, for each reference point of a plurality of reference points within the portion of the flight plan, a predicted value of the user-selected first operating parameter for the aircraft at the respective reference point based at least in part on the current status information for the aircraft, resulting in predicted values for the user-selected first operating parameter;
• display each of the predicted values for the user-selected first operating parameter above each of the respective reference points in the vertical profile display;
• and
• dynamically updating the vertical profile display based upon continuously obtaining the current status information for the aircraft and calculating the predicted values for the user-selected first operating parameter.