Flight Plan Segmentation for En Route Diversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pilots face a high workload when diverting from a flight plan due to the need to manually analyze and select alternate airports, as existing systems fail to account for individual preferences, real-time airport availability, and complex factors, leading to suboptimal segmentation of flight plans.
Innovation Solution
A system that automatically subdivides a flight plan into segments and presents potential diversion airports by identifying segmentation criteria, determining diversion suitability distributions, transforming them based on meteorological conditions, and providing graphical indications of flight path segments and associated diversion airports, using a processing system and display device onboard the aircraft.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If pilots manually analyze and select alternate airports using existing systems, then they can access basic flight plan information, but their workload increases significantly due to the need to mentally piece together information from multiple sources and analyze multiple airports
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple information sources (flight plan data, airport information, meteorological data, NOTAMs, SIGMETs, PIREPs) into a single integrated display showing diversion suitability distributions along the flight path. This merging eliminates the need for pilots to mentally piece together information from multiple separate sources, directly reducing cognitive workload while maintaining comprehensive information availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically performs the complex task of analyzing multiple airports and generating segmentation recommendations without requiring manual pilot intervention. The processing system autonomously evaluates diversion suitability at multiple locations along the flight path and presents optimized segmentation options, allowing the system to serve itself in the information analysis process rather than requiring pilot-driven manual analysis.
2Reliability
If pilots preselect alternate airports during pre-flight briefing, then they can prepare for potential diversions, but their workload increases due to the need to analyze information with respect to multiple locations along the flight plan and subdivide the flight plan into segments
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the entire flight path during pre-flight briefing, automatically identifying optimal segment boundaries and associated diversion airports for each segment. This preliminary action provides pilots with pre-analyzed segmentation options and diversion recommendations before departure, reducing the time required during briefings while ensuring thorough analysis of multiple locations along the flight plan.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent automatically subdivides the flight plan into multiple segments with identified boundary locations, presenting a structured breakdown that facilitates systematic diversion planning. This automated segmentation eliminates the manual effort required to divide the flight plan into manageable portions, allowing pilots to efficiently review and select from pre-analyzed segment options during pre-flight briefing.
3Productivity
If existing systems segment the flight plan in an automated manner, then they reduce manual effort, but they fail to account for individual preferences, real-time airport availabilities, and complex factors resulting in suboptimal segmentation
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts segmentation to account for multiple factors including individual pilot preferences, real-time airport availability, and complex meteorological conditions. The processing system evaluates diversion suitability distributions and identifies segment boundaries based on extrema that optimize for these dynamic factors, allowing the segmentation quality to adapt to changing conditions and specific operational requirements rather than using fixed automated rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates multiple parameters including pilot-defined preferences, real-time airport status, and meteorological data into the segmentation optimization process. By changing and weighting these parameters according to their relevance for each specific flight situation, the system generates segmentation that is precise and optimized for the particular operational context, maintaining high segmentation quality while automating the process.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems are provided for segmenting a planned route of travel for indicating suggested or recommended diversion destinations with respect to those segments. One exemplary method of presenting diversion airports involves identifying a segmentation criterion for a flight plan, determining one or more diversion suitability distributions along a flight path defined by the flight plan, transforming the one or more diversion suitability distributions from a true distance scale to an effective distance scale based at least in part on meteorological conditions, and identifying a location for a segment boundary along the flight path based on an extrema of the one or more diversion suitability distributions within a portion of the flight path defined by the segmentation criterion on the effective distance scale. The method continues by providing graphical indicia of the flight path segment defined by the segment boundary and a diversion airport associated therewith.