Automated Pre-Flight Testing via Engine Control Circuitry
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Solution Overview
Problem
The conventional pre-flight checklist for piston engine airplanes is intensely manual, prone to inconsistency and human error, lacks a formal system for recording results, and poses a risk in detecting failures effectively.
Innovation Solution
An automated pre-flight testing method using engine control circuitry that conducts tests electronically, removing human error and providing a robust history of the aircraft's status by verifying engine functions and storing results electronically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual pre-flight checklist is used, then pilot can verify engine functions, but human error and inconsistency occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical checklist system with an automated electronic control system that programmatically verifies engine functions. The system automatically adjusts controls, monitors responses, and records results, eliminating human error in verification while maintaining comprehensive checking capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The engine control system performs self-verification by automatically monitoring its own functions and responses. The system independently executes test sequences, evaluates results, and generates reports without requiring manual pilot intervention, ensuring consistent and reliable verification.
2Ease of operation
If manual pre-flight checklist is used, then pilot can perform checks, but results recording is unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual paper-based recording with an automated electronic data storage system. The control system automatically captures, stores, and preserves test results in digital format, eliminating issues with illegible handwriting, lost forms, and incomplete recording while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides immediate automated feedback by recording test results in real-time during the pre-flight checklist. This continuous feedback mechanism ensures complete and accurate information capture without requiring separate manual recording steps, preventing information loss.
3Reliability
If automated pre-flight testing is used, then human error is eliminated, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the existing multi-functional engine control system to perform both normal engine management and automated pre-flight testing. By utilizing the same control circuitry, sensors, and actuators for dual purposes, the system achieves automated testing consistency without adding significant complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the pre-flight testing function with the existing engine control system. Rather than creating a separate automated testing system, the invention integrates testing capabilities into the control circuitry already present for engine management, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining testing reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
One embodiment is directed to a method for testing an aircraft prior to flight. The method includes receiving a user signal from a pre-flight test input source, the user signal indicating that a pilot of the aircraft has directed engine control circuitry, which is arranged to electronically control operation of a set of piston engines of the aircraft during flight, to begin testing the aircraft in an automated manner. The method includes, in response to the user signal, conducting a pre-flight test of the aircraft from the engine control circuitry. The method includes, upon completion of the pre-flight test, outputting a result of the pre-flight test from the engine control circuitry.