DEVICE AND METHOD OF AUTOMATED CONSTRUCTION OF EMERGENCY FLIGHT PATH FOR AIRCRAFT

• US 20070129855A1
• Filed: 12/07/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Coulmeau, Francois
• Granted Patent: US 8,521,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/3
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0056 in an emergency situation, e.g. hijacking

Abstract

The invention relates to a flight management system for manned or unmanned aircraft having to face an emergency situation such as hijacking of the aircraft, medical emergencies, situations of failures affecting the propulsion, pressurization or communication functions for example. It provides for a device and process for automatically or semi-automatically generating a flight plan compatible with international regulations and their national or local adaptations with possibilities of optimization according to navigation parameters.

Claims

1. An aircraft navigation aid device comprising:

module for preparing a flight plan and flight path of the aircraft,

a storage element in the form of a computer database of procedures to be used in predefined emergency situations; and

a computer processing element enabling the flight plan and flight path in progress to be modified in accordance with procedures applicable to each emergency situation and optimally for a selected preference function of a combination of navigation criteria.

2. The navigation aid device of claim 1, wherein the computer database of procedures further comprises data relating to landing and takeoff maneuvers some of them in the form of flight path segments that can be used by the module for preparing a flight plan.

3. The navigation aid device of claim 1, wherein the storage element comprises one or several elements for globally or partially said computer database.

4. The navigation aid device of claims 1 further comprising a localization module, wherein the computer processing module cooperates with said localization module, flight plan and path preparation to select procedures from the computer database applicable to an emergency initiated at the place and in the ‘

en route’

, approach or takeoff situation in which the aircraft finds itself.

5. The navigation aid device of claim 1 further capable of detecting the emergency situation and of initializing the computer processing element.

6. The navigation aid device of claim 1, wherein the computer processing element is further capable of selecting and presenting certain compliant and optimum modifications to the flight plan and path to a pilot of the aircraft and of allowing said pilot to choose among said modifications.

7. The navigation aid device of the claim 1 farther including an interface with the aircraft'"'"'s automatic piloting module, wherein the computer processing element is capable of taking control of said automatic piloting module to ensure the aircraft'"'"'s execution of the compliant and optimum procedures without the intervention of a pilot.

8. An aircraft navigation aid method including steps for preparing the flight plan and path of said aircraft using a navigation database, further comprising, in response to the initiation of an emergency situation among a set of predefined situations, a step of calling procedures, stored in a computer database of procedures, to be executed in said emergency situation, and of executing computer programs for modifying the flight plan and path progress in compliance with the called procedures and in an optimum manner for a selected preference function of a combination of navigation criteria.

9. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 8 further comprising a step of localization of the aircraft, wherein the call to the stored procedures includes a step of choosing procedures to be employed according to the localization and the ‘

en route’

, approach or takeoff situation of the aircraft.

10. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 8 comprising a step of detecting the emergency situation and a step of initializing the call to the stored procedures to be executed in said emergency situation.

11. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 8, wherein the computer programs for modifying the flight plan and path in progress comprise a step of selecting and presenting certain compliant and optimum modifications to the flight plan and path to a pilot of the aircraft and a step of choosing among said modifications.

12. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 8 further capable of automatically piloting the aircraft, wherein the computer programs for modifying the flight plan and path are capable of taking control of the automatic pilot function for ensuring the aircraft'"'"'s execution of the compliant and optimum procedures without the intervention of a pilot.

13. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 8 further comprising, in response to a failure of one of the aircraft'"'"'s communication links occurring when the aircraft is ‘

en route’

;

steps of calculating the flight plan segment enabling the flight path to be held for a given hold time originating from the computer database of procedures, where applicable raised by the minimum altitude constraint to be observed taken from the navigation database, then calculating the flight path to rejoin said flight plan hold segment, then following said flight plan hold segment, then, on expiration of said hold time,

a step of convergence towards an approach point prescribed by the computer database of procedures, then, on arrival at said approach point,

a holding pattern step calculated under minimum altitude constraint to be observed taken from the computer database of procedures, the duration of said holding step being calculated so that the landing time lies within a prescribed interval, then, at the conclusion of said holding step,

a step of landing complying with the procedure entered by control before the communication failure or, failing this, a calculated procedure.

14. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 13, wherein the step of calculating the flight path to rejoin the flight plan hold segment is performed under the constraint of optimizing clearance with the other aeroplanes in the vicinity.

15. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 14, wherein the rejoining turn of the flight plan hold segment makes an angle with said segment which maximizes the time separation kept by the aircraft to rejoin said segment and those kept by the aeroplanes in the vicinity to rejoin a point vertical from the rejoin point, said aeroplanes in the vicinity taken into consideration being those whose flight path passes at a vertical distance less than a prescribed minimum from the rejoin point.

16. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 13, wherein the duration of the calculated holding pattern step is calculated taking into account the authorized landing weight.

17. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 13, wherein the calculated procedure for the landing step uses the ground landing aid means in an optimum manner.

18. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 17, wherein the optimization of use of ground landing aid means comprises a prescribed order of said means and in that in the case where none of said means enables an approach, a preprogrammed automatic approach is used.

19. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 8 wherein, in response to a failure of the communication link between the aircraft and air traffic control occurring when the aircraft is on takeoff, it includes:

a step of loading the communications failure flight plan from the computer database of procedures and coordinates of the characteristic points of the terminal area and determination of the first characteristic point outside said terminal area, then

a step of stringing said communications failure flight plan onto said characteristic point, said stringing being calculated to minimize the rejoin distance by minimizing the bypass of the TMA

20. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 19, wherein the calculation for minimizing the rejoin distance by minimizing the outlines of the TMA includes the following steps:

for a chosen TMA bypass margin, a step of creating pairs of flight path points on bisector segments created at inflection points of the TMA, each of the points of the pair being located at a distance from the inflection points corresponding to the chosen bypass margin of said TMA, then,

a step of calculating the total distances to be traveled by the aircraft over the flight paths connecting the current position of the aircraft to the first characteristic point outside the terminal area passing through the possible points at the exit from the preceding step, then,

a step of determining the flight path, from among those at the exit from the preceding step, for which the total distance to be traveled by the aircraft is the shortest, then,

a step of allocating a cruise altitude equal to the last instruction received from control with a climb profile integrating the minimum altitude constraints of the sector, then,

a step of switching to the procedures for determining a flight plan in response to a communication link failure between the aircraft and air traffic control occurring when the aircraft is ‘

en route’

.

21. The aircraft navigation aid method of claim 8, wherein a failure of the communication link between the aircraft and air traffic control occurring when the aircraft is on approach without the possibility of following a visual conditions procedure, it includes:

a step of determining the landing runway from among those stored in the computer database of procedures, either that resulting from taking into account the measured wind or that recommended by said database

a landing step including optimization of the use of ground landing aid means having a prescribed order in the use of said means and, in the case where none of said means enables an approach, the use of a preprogrammed automatic approach.