Flight Plan Management System for In-Flight Update Preview
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current flight management systems do not provide flight crews with information on the impact of real-time updates to flight plans before they are inserted into the active flight plan, potentially affecting operational efficiency and safety.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for in-flight management of an active flight plan that includes a flight management system, a communications system, a display device, and a controller. The controller receives flight mission data from external sources, generates an inactive flight plan with recommended updates, assesses the potential impact of these updates, and presents a graphical preview on the display device for crew review before implementing the changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If real-time updates to flight plan parameters are received and inserted into the active flight plan, then operational efficiency is improved, but flight crew awareness of update impacts is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system generates an inactive flight plan that incorporates recommended updates before they are applied to the active flight plan. This preliminary action allows the crew to review the impact of updates in advance through a contextual preview display, ensuring they are informed before changes take effect, thus resolving the contradiction between operational efficiency and crew awareness.
2Speed
If multiple flight plan parameters are updated simultaneously, then response time to external updates is reduced, but understanding of individual update impacts is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the batch of recommended updates into individual parameter changes and displays them separately in the contextual preview. Each update's impact is shown independently, allowing the flight crew to understand individual changes while still receiving comprehensive updates efficiently. This segmentation resolves the contradiction between fast response time and understanding of individual impacts.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for management of an active flight plan during operation of an aircraft. The systems include a flight management system, a communications system configured to receive flight mission data from external sources, a display device, and a controller. The controller is configured to, by a processor: receive the flight mission data that includes recommended updates to the active flight plan, generate an inactive flight plan including the active flight plan modified based on the recommended updates, access the inactive flight plan to determine an impact of the recommended updates on the active flight plan, render a graphical image on the display device that presents a contextual preview of the recommended updates and the impact thereof, and in response to acceptance of the recommended updates, modify the active flight plan based on the recommended updates or replace the active flight plan with the inactive flight plan.