Vertical situation display terrain/waypoint swath, range to target speed, and blended airplane reference

• US 6,720,891 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2003
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Chen, Sherwin S., Wiedemann, John, Fox, Julianne M., Molloy, Neal D.
• Primary Examiner(s): SWARTHOUT, BRENT
• Application Number:
  US10/427,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20030193410A1
• Time in Patent Office: 349 Days
• Field of Search: 340/969, 340/959, 340/976, 340/963, 340/945, 340/971, 340/973, 340/974, 731/78.T, 701/15, 701/14, 701/3, 701/7, 701/18
• US Class Current: 340/969
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32

Abstract

A flight information display for the flight deck of an aircraft showing a pictorial side view of the flight path or the area directly in front of the aircraft area having a selected distance of at least 0.5 nautical miles, comprising (a) a pictorial representation to scale of the profile of the highest elevations of a swath of terrain along said path or area, (b) an icon positioned on the left or right side of the display representing the aircraft, the altitude of which is to scale with the height of the terrain, and (c) an altitude reference scale; wherein the width of the swath is at least 0.1 nautical miles and no greater than the distance of the minimum accuracy of the means for determining the aircraft'"'"'s location.

Claims

1. A flight information display for a flight deck of an aircraft, the display comprising:

a first icon representing a current location of the aircraft;

a pictorial representation of at least 0.5 nm of a profile of a projected flight path of the aircraft; and

a second icon showing a location at which the aircraft will reach a target speed based on its current speed and acceleration, the display providing an indication of where in a vertical plane and along the flight path the target speed will be achieved.

2. The display of claim 1, wherein the second icon is located toward the nose of the aircraft when a difference between current speed of the aircraft and the target speed is less than a predetermined threshold.

3. The display of claim 2, wherein the second icon is located toward the location at which the aircraft will reach the target speed and the icon has a first size when the difference between current speed of the aircraft and the target speed is greater than the predetermined threshold and the aircraft is projected to reach the target speed at a distance within range of the display.

4. The display of claim 3, wherein the second icon is located toward an edge of the display away from the first icon and the second icon has a second size that is larger than the first size when the difference between the current speed of the aircraft and the target speed is greater than the predetermined threshold and the aircraft is projected to reach the target speed at a distance beyond the range of the display.

5. The display of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of second icons, each of the plurality of second icons indicating a location at which the aircraft will achieve the target speed at a different flight angle.

6. The display of claim 1, wherein location of the second icon is calculated according to the equations: