Aircraft Flap Malfunction Detection With Slip Landing Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft pilots face challenges in safely landing an aircraft when one or more flaps malfunction, as it requires complex decision-making under adverse weather conditions and traffic constraints.
Innovation Solution
An aircraft flap malfunction detection and landing assist system that processes flap status, aircraft state, and weather data to generate and display forward slip or side slip landing parameters, aiding the pilot in making safe landing decisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flaps are extended to ensure smooth landing and short landing roll, then lift and drag are improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to flap malfunction
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of flap malfunction status before landing execution. The processing system analyzes flap status data, aircraft state data, and weather data in advance to identify potential flap failures and pre-calculates alternative landing parameters, enabling the pilot to switch to alternative procedures (forward slip or side slip) without delay during critical landing phase
Solution Approach 2:
The processing system acts as an intermediary between the flap system and landing control. It receives data from multiple sources (flap status, aircraft state, weather), processes this information, and generates recommended landing parameters that account for flap malfunction, thereby mediating the complex interaction between flap status and landing performance
2Adaptability or versatility
If flapless approach is used due to malfunctioning flaps, then landing can be achieved, but the maneuver is risky and requires complex pilot procedures
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors flap status data, aircraft state data, and weather data, providing real-time feedback to the pilot through recommended landing parameters. This feedback loop enables the pilot to make informed decisions about whether to proceed with flapless approach, forward slip, or side slip maneuvers based on current conditions, reducing the complexity of pilot decision-making under stress
Solution Approach 2:
The processing system automatically generates appropriate landing parameters (forward slip or side slip) based on the detected flap malfunction status, aircraft state, and weather conditions. This self-service capability provides the pilot with pre-calculated guidance, eliminating the need for the pilot to manually compute complex slip parameters during the approach
3Measurement precision
If multiple data sources are processed to generate precise landing parameters, then prediction accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The processing system merges multiple data sources (flap status data, aircraft state data including weight/speed/position, and weather data) into a unified analysis framework. By combining these diverse data streams and processing them together to generate single recommended landing parameters, the system achieves high precision without requiring separate complex processing chains for each data type
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft flap malfunction detection and landing assist system and method includes supplying flap status data, from a flap status data source, that indicates at least aircraft flap configuration and operability, supplying aircraft state data, from an aircraft state data source, that indicates at least aircraft weight, aircraft speed, and aircraft position, supplying weather data, from a weather data source, that indicates current weather at a landing runway, processing, in a processing system the flap status data to determine if at least one flap is inoperable and, upon determining that the at least one flap is inoperable, processing the flap status data, the aircraft state data, and the weather data to selectively generate, and command a display device to render, at least one of forward slip landing parameters or side slip landing parameters.