Flight assistant with automatic configuration and landing site selection method and apparatus

摘要

A system and apparatus assists pilots and flight crews in determining the best course of action at any particular point inflight for any category of emergency. The system monitors a plurality of static and dynamic flight parameters including atmospheric conditions along the flight path, ground conditions and terrain, conditions aboard the aircraft, and pilot/crew data. Based on these parameters, the system may provide continually updated information to the pilot or crew about the best available landing sites or recommend solutions to aircraft configuration errors. In case of emergency, the system may provide the pilot with procedure sets associated with a hierarchy of available emergency landing sites (or execute these procedure sets via the autopilot system) depending on the specific nature of the emergency.

主权项

1. A method for determining aircraft flight configuration during a flight, comprising:
(a) establishing aircraft position, altitude, and flight trajectory based upon aircraft position and altitude over time; (b) establishing aircraft flight segment based on at least one of time since departure, position, altitude, and flight trajectory; (c) determining aircraft attitude from sensing at least one of angle and rate for at least one of pitch, bank, and yaw; (d) sensing aircraft acoustics from at least one of airframe vibration and aircraft sound; (e) determining an expected aircraft configuration based at least in part on said established aircraft flight segment; (f) determining aircraft configuration from said sensed aircraft attitude and said aircraft acoustics for aircraft configurations attributable to said sensed attitude and acoustics for said flight segment; and (g) announcing an aircraft configuration different from said expected aircraft configuration.