Flight time comparator system and method

• US 10,297,160 B1
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jet Advisors, LLC
• Original Assignee: Jet Advisors, LLC
• Inventors: O'Leary, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Gurkanwaljit
• Application Number:
  US13/779,927
• Time in Patent Office: 2,273 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/88 Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0052 for cruising combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value G01C23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A system and method operating on a computer system connected to one or more internal and external databases for statistical analysis of externally collected data of aircraft movements (AM Data) to develop business intelligence to understand, forecast and/or confirm aircraft transactions, market activity, usage patterns, industry trends, development of new business, products and procedures as well as verify the accuracy of invoices, flight records, flight/duty logs, flight time invoiced, airport enplanements/usage, geographic/in-state usage, regulatory/operational compliance and aircraft records when compared with AM Data combined with computed flight times.

Claims

1. A method of using a computer system comprising at least one computer and a database for verifying aircraft flight information, said method comprising the steps of:

storing historical information about a plurality of different flight routes for a plurality of different models of aircraft in a local database;

connecting the computer system to each one of a plurality of different external computer systems via a communication network;

the computer system executing instructions to obtain aircraft information about each one of the plurality of different models of aircraft, said aircraft information including aircraft size and performance information that is received electronically from a respective database of the external computer system of the respective manufacturer of each model of aircraft;

the computer system executing instructions to store said aircraft information in the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to provide a user interface with a display to display information to the user and having an input interface to said computer system to accept specific or proposed flight information about a target flight from the user;

selecting a target aircraft of a particular model from the plurality of different models of aircraft to evaluate the target flight;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve aircraft information about the target aircraft from the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve respective aircraft information about one or more different aircraft models from the local database, said one or more different aircraft models being different models from the target aircraft;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve historical information related to one or more flight routes for the target flight with respect to the target aircraft from the database;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve historical information related to additional flight routes for the target flight with respect to each one of the different aircraft models from the database;

said computer system executing instructions to execute a calculation algorithm for calculating derived flight information using said specific or proposed flight information, said retrieved aircraft information, and said retrieved historical information for the target aircraft and also for the one or more different aircraft models, wherein said derived flight information includes information comparing an estimated flight time for the target aircraft with estimated flight times for the one or more different aircraft models;

said computer system executing instructions using said derived flight information to generate a time table and a graphical map graphically showing a particular flight path over the geographical map wherein said time table displays flight times for said particular flight path; and

using at least one computer of said computer system to automatically generate a report utilizing said derived information, wherein said report is output by said computer system providing the compared estimates of the flight times in a visual form for viewing by a client, wherein said visual form includes the time table showing the flight times for the particular flight path and a graphic showing the particular flight path on the geographical map.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of reconciling said derived information with reported and/or projected flight information about the flight to identify discrepancies, and wherein said report includes information about said discrepancies.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said reconciling includes comparing reported flight information including actual flight log information about the flight to derived information for validating or invalidating said flight log information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said specific or proposed flight information includes information about a source, a destination, and a date of the flight, and wherein said reported or projected flight information includes reported information about the flight of the particular aircraft, and wherein said derived information includes derived information about the flight of the particular aircraft, whereby said report includes information about discrepancies between them.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said derived flight information includes information determining one or more specific geographic locations of the particular aircraft during the flight, and wherein said derived information also includes derivations of one or more durations of the aircraft within each one of said one or more specific geographic locations.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of determining one or more taxes owed based on said specific geographic locations and said durations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said derived flight information includes information about usage trends, such that said report includes information about said usage trends and about an adequacy of the aircraft supporting said usage trends.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first or second website are remotely located from said computer system such that said one of said first or second website are connected to said computer system via a public communication network.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing said derived flight information and/or said specific or proposed flight information for a plurality of applications of said method for collecting historical flight information.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of using said historical flight information for training.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of using said historical flight information for generating a report including a comparison of aircraft performance.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of using said historical flight information for identifying aircraft usage patterns or variations thereof.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of determining industry trends from said historical flight information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of using said industry trends for developing or improving one or more products.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of validating or invalidating compliance with procedural and/or regulatory requirements using said derived information.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said calculating step includes using statistical analysis to determine said derived flight information.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said report is provided as an electronic presentation of information to the user via the user interface.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said computer system includes a web server for serving said electronic presentation for display using a web browser.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said report further includes information used to confirm enplanements.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said report further includes information regarding said enplanements with respect to one or more particular airports.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said report identifies non-destination stops.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said report identifies limitations of the aircraft.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of developing proposed flight procedures for including in the report.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of forecasting market activities, industry trends, or transactions for including in the report.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of adapting the report for supporting legal and/or regulatory proceedings.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining aircraft usage trends for including in said report.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of providing suggested aircraft for meeting said usage trends.

28. A method of using a computer system comprising at least one computer and a database for verifying aircraft flight information, said method comprising the steps of:

storing historical information about a plurality of different flight routes for a plurality of different models of aircraft in a local database;

connecting the computer system to each one of a plurality of different external computer systems via a communication network;

the computer system executing instructions to obtain aircraft information about each one of the plurality of different models of aircraft, said aircraft information including aircraft size and performance information that is received electronically from a respective database of the external computer system of the respective manufacturer of each model of aircraft;

the computer system executing instructions to store said aircraft information in the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to provide a user interface with a display to display information to the user and having an input interface to said computer system to accept specific or proposed flight information about a target flight from a user;

the computer system executing instructions to accept the reported and/or projected flight information about the target flight;

selecting a target aircraft of a particular model from the plurality of different models of aircraft to evaluate the target flight;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve historical information related to the specific or proposed flight from the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve aircraft information about the target aircraft from the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve respective aircraft information about one or more different aircraft models from the local database, said one or more different aircraft models being different models from the target aircraft;

the computer system executing instructions to calculate derived flight information using said specific or proposed flight information and said aircraft information;

the computer system executing instructions to reconcile said derived information with said reported and/or projected flight information about the target flight to identify discrepancies, and wherein said report includes information about said discrepancies including information comparing the target aircraft to one or more of the said one or more different aircraft models;

said computer system executing instructions using said derived flight information to generate a time table and a graphical map graphically showing a particular flight path over the geographical map wherein said time table displays flight times for said particular flight path; and

using at least one computer of said computer system to automatically generate a report utilizing said derived information, wherein said report is output by said computer system providing the compared estimates of the flight times in a visual form for viewing by a client, wherein said visual form includes the time table showing the flight times for the particular flight path and a graphic showing the particular flight path on the geographical map.

29. A method of using a computer system for verifying aircraft flight information, said method comprising the steps of:

storing historical information about a plurality of different flight routes for a plurality of different models of aircraft in a local database;

connecting the computer system to each one of a plurality of different external computer systems via a communication network;

the computer system executing instructions to obtain aircraft information about each one of the plurality of different models of aircraft, said aircraft information including aircraft size and performance information that is received electronically from a respective database of the external computer system of the respective manufacturer of each model of aircraft;

the computer system executing instructions to store said aircraft information in the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to provide a user interface with a display to display information to the user and having an input interface to said computer system to accept specific or proposed flight information about a target flight from a user;

selecting a target aircraft of a particular model from the plurality of different models of aircraft to evaluate the target flight;

the computer system executing instructions to accept the flight information about the target flight;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve historical information related to the flight route from the local database;

at least one computer of the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve aircraft information about the target aircraft from the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve aircraft information about the target aircraft from the local database;

the computer system executing instructions to search the local database to retrieve respective aircraft information about one or more different aircraft models from the local database, said one or more different aircraft models being different models from the target aircraft;

the computer system executing instructions to calculate derived flight information using said specific or proposed flight information, said historical information, and said retrieved aircraft information of both the target aircraft and the one or more different aircraft models, wherein said derived flight information includes information comparing an estimated flight time for the target aircraft and at least one of the one or more different aircraft models;

said computer system executing instructions using said derived flight information to generate a time table and a graphical map graphically showing a particular flight path over the geographical map wherein said time table displays flight times for said particular flight path; and

using at least one computer of said computer system to automatically generate a report utilizing said derived information for comparing with said reported and/or projected flight information, wherein said report is output by said computer system providing the compared estimates of the flight times in a visual form for viewing by a client, wherein said visual form includes the time table showing the flight times for the particular flight path and a graphic showing the particular flight path on the geographical map.