Flight Management System Diversion Airport Ranking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pilots face a high workload and reduced situational awareness when selecting diversion airports during emergency situations, as they need to mentally combine and reanalyze various weather and operational data from different sources, often leading to suboptimal choices due to mental stress and the complexity of the task.
Innovation Solution
A system that filters and scores potential diversion airports based on their viability for each flight path segment, using real-time and anticipated data to provide a ranked list and graphical indicators, allowing pilots to select the most suitable airport and dynamically update choices during flight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If pilots manually analyze and aggregate information from multiple sources to select diversion airports, then they can make informed decisions, but their workload increases and situational awareness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically performs the information aggregation and analysis tasks that would otherwise require pilot intervention. The flight management system autonomously monitors multiple data sources, evaluates diversion airport options, and presents ranked recommendations, allowing the pilot to benefit from comprehensive analysis without manually performing each step
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary between multiple information sources and the pilot. It consolidates data from weather services, flight management systems, and airport databases, processes this information through automated algorithms, and delivers synthesized recommendations, thereby reducing the cognitive burden on the pilot while maintaining decision quality
2Reliability
If pilots reanalyze information for multiple diversion airports, then they can find the optimal choice, but the time required increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and pre-ranks multiple diversion airport options based on current flight conditions, weather data, and airport characteristics. This preliminary analysis is performed automatically before the pilot needs to make a decision, so when a diversion becomes necessary, the pilot receives pre-prepared recommendations that would otherwise require extensive real-time analysis
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors and updates diversion airport viability as flight conditions change, maintaining an ever-current ranked list of options. This continuous analysis ensures that the information presented to the pilot is always up-to-date without requiring the pilot to initiate separate analysis cycles for each airport
3Reliability
If the system presents detailed information for each diversion airport, then pilots can make informed decisions, but the complexity of the display increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different levels of detail and emphasis to different pieces of information based on their relevance to the current situation. Critical factors such as weather conditions and runway availability are highlighted with visual indicators, while less critical details are presented in a more subdued manner, allowing the pilot to quickly grasp the most important information without being overwhelmed by comprehensive data
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods and systems are provided for indicating suggested or recommended diversion destinations with respect to segments of a planned route of travel. One exemplary method of presenting potential diversion airports for an aircraft involves identifying a flight path segment of a plurality of flight path segments between a departure location and a destination location based on a flight plan from the departure location to the destination location and identifying a subset of airports satisfying one or more filtering criteria with respect to the flight path segment. From among that subset, a recommended diversion airport is identified based on a viability ranking of the subset of airports with respect to the flight path segment and indication of the recommended diversion airport for the flight path segment is provided to a pilot or other user.