Method and device for aiding the management of successive flights of an aircraft

• US 8,027,757 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2007
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Operations SL (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: Berard, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Hellner; Mark
• Application Number:
  US11/828,909
• Publication Number:
  US 20100030404A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,524 Days
• Field of Search: 701/14, 701/3, 701/35
• US Class Current: 701/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and device for aiding the management of successive flights of an aircraft. The device includes a determination unit which uses values recorded automatically for a flight, to automatically determine the values of characteristic parameters for waypoints of a next flight.

Claims

1. A method of aiding management of flights, for successive flights of an aircraft, which are such that a destination of a flight Vn corresponds to an origin of a next flight Vn+1, n being an integer greater than or equal to 1, each flight Vn and Vn+1 being carried out according to a respective flight plan PVn and PVn+1, each comprising a plurality of waypoints, the method comprising:

automatically determining initial values of a plurality of characteristic parameters, including the following characteristic parameters;

time of transit, speed, altitude, and mass of fuel on board, for said flight Vn, with aid of initial data, of the flight plan PVn and of characteristics related to the aircraft, for each waypoint of said flight plan PVn;

automatically determining initial values of said plurality of characteristic parameters for said flight Vn+1 and of characteristics related to the aircraft, for each waypoint of said flight plan PVn+1, with aid of the initial values relating to a destination D1 of said flight plan PVn;

during said flight Vn, replacing, in accordance with actual conditions of said flight Vn, said initial values of at least some of said plurality of characteristic parameters of said flight plan PVn with modified values of said at least some of said plurality of characteristic parameters, for each waypoint of said corresponding flight plan PVn, to obtain an updated set of values of said plurality of characteristic parameters of said flight plan PVn which includes said modified values of said at least some of said plurality of characteristic parameters of said flight plan PVn and said initial values of other characteristic parameters of said plurality of characteristic parameters of said flight plan PVn;

forecasting, during the flight Vn, based on said initial values of said plurality of characteristic parameters for the flight Vn+1 and the updated set of values recorded for the flight Vn, including the value of the mass of fuel on board, the expected conduct of the flight Vn+1 based on forecasted initial values of the plurality of characteristic parameters relating to the flight Vn+1;

automatically recording, for said flight Vn, the updated set of values of said plurality of characteristic parameters existing at the last waypoint which corresponds to the destination of said flight Vn; and

thereafter, automatically updating, based on the updated set of values recorded for the flight Vn, including the value of the mass of fuel on board, the initial values of the plurality of characteristic parameters relating to the flight Vn+1.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the values of the characteristic parameters are determined with the aid of at least one prediction function.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, if an operator provides time information corresponding to time spent on the ground by the aircraft between said flight Vn and the flight Vn+1, then a sum of the value of the time of arrival of the flight Vn, which was recorded automatically at the end of said flight Vn, and of the time information provided by the operator is used as a value of the departure time of said flight Vn+1.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, if an operator provides mass information corresponding to a variation in fuel-less mass achieved on the ground between said flight Vn and the flight Vn+1, then a sum of the value of the mass of fuel on board, which was recorded at the end of the flight Vn, of the unladen mass of the aircraft, and of the mass information provided by the operator is used as a value of the total mass of the aircraft at the departure of said flight Vn+1.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, if an operator provides the values of initial data for said flight Vn+1, then said values provided by the operator are used by priority with respect to the values recorded for the previous flight Vn, for the same data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the value of the mass of fuel on board, recorded at the destination of said flight Vn, is used to determine a characteristic parameter of a flight subsequent to the flight Vn+1.

6. A device for aiding management of flights, for successive flights of an aircraft, which are such that a destination of a flight Vn corresponds to an origin of a next flight Vn+1, n being an integer greater than or equal to 1, each flight Vn and Vn+1 being carried out according to a respective flight plan PVn and PVn+1, each flight plan comprising a plurality of waypoints, said device comprising:

a first unit inputting data; and

a second unit automatically determining (i) for the flight Vn, with aid of initial data, of the flight plan PVn and of characteristics relating to the aircraft, for each waypoint of said flight plan PVn, initial values of a plurality of characteristic parameters, including the following characteristic parameters;

transit time, speed, altitude, and mass of fuel on board and (ii) initial values of said plurality of characteristic parameters for said flight Vn+1 and of characteristics related to the aircraft, with aid of the initial values relating to a destination D1 of said flight plan PVn, for each waypoint of said flight plan PVn+1;

a third unit forecasting, during the flight, based on said initial values of said plurality of characteristic parameters for the flight Vn and the updated set of values recorded for the flight Vn, including the value of the mass of fuel on board, the expected conduct of the flight Vn+1 based on forecasted values of the plurality of characteristic parameters relating to the flight Vn+1;

a fourth unit replacing, in accordance with actual conditions of said flight Vn, said initial values of at least some of said plurality of characteristic parameters with modified values of said at least some of said plurality of characteristic parameters, for each waypoint of said corresponding flight plan PVn, to obtain an updated set of values of said plurality of characteristic parameters which includes said modified values of said at least some of said plurality of characteristic parameters and said initial values of other characteristic parameters of said plurality of characteristic parameters;

a fifth unit automatically recording, on at least one recording medium, for said flight Vn, the updated set of values of said plurality of characteristic parameters existing at the last waypoint which corresponds to the destination of the flight Vn; and

a sixth unit automatically transmitting said updated set of values recorded on said recording medium to said second unit, wherein;

said second unit is configured to automatically update, based on said updated set of values recorded for the flight Vn, including the value of the mass of fuel on board, the initial values of the plurality of characteristic parameters relating to said flight Vn+1.

7. The device as claimed in claim 6, further comprising an automatic unit selecting by priority values input with aid of said first unit with respect to values relating to the same data which were recorded by said third unit, so that they are transmitted to said second unit and used by the third unit.