The Boeing Company

Theboeing Company

John Allin Brown

Syed Tahir Shafaat

William L Goodman

Robert P Smith

Jennifer L Gertley

Bradley David Cornell

Vivek Sharma

Minh-Tri Le

Bradley D Cornell

A method and apparatus of controlling movement of an aircraft. A turn path off of a planned route for an aircraft comprising a turn to direct the aircraft to an intercept point on the planned route is determined. A planned route indicator depicting the planned route, a turn path indicator depicting the turn path, and an aircraft position indicator indicating a position of the aircraft are displayed to an operator of the aircraft at the same time on a turn guidance display. Deviation limit indicators for the planned route, the turn path, or both, may be displayed on the turn guidance display. Indicator characteristics of the deviation limit indicators may be changed in response to aircraft deviations from the planned route or the turn path by more than the deviation limits. The turn guidance display is used to control the movement of the aircraft to follow the turn path.

Guidance display for controlling aircraft turns for aircraft spacing

An automatic aircraft monitoring and proposed rerouting system includes at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory is in electronic communication with the at least one processor. The at least one memory includes programming code configured to be executed by the at least one processor. The programming code is configured to automatically monitor at least one aircraft and to automatically provide a proposed flight reroute for the at least one aircraft.

Automatic aircraft monitoring and operator preferred rerouting system and method

A method of operating an air traffic control system may include receiving, by a control system, an instruction from a control system user. The method may further include providing, by the control system, the instruction to an airplane via a data link between the control system and a system of the airplane. In addition, the method may include adjusting, by the airplane system, at least one airplane control to correspond to the instruction.

Air traffic control method

A method of receiving an instruction by an airplane from a control system includes facilitating, by the airplane, a user of a system of the airplane in accepting or rejecting the instruction. The instruction may be received by the airplane via a data link between the control system and the airplane system. If the instruction is accepted, the method may further include loading, by the airplane, the instruction into the airplane system and/or adjusting, by the airplane, at least one airplane control to correspond to the instruction.

Programming airplane systems based on instructions

Methods and apparatuses for receiving, by an airplane, one or more clearances and/or instructions from a control system via a data link between the control system and a system of the airplane, are described herein. The system of the airplane may then facilitate a user in accepting or rejecting at least one of the received one or more clearances and/or instructions, and if accepted, may load the clearance and/or instructions and/or adjust controls to correspond to the clearance and/or instructions. Further, the system of the airplane may be adapted to display at least instructions indicia of whether the received instructions are met to a user.

Displaying and/or programming airplane systems based on clearances and/or instructions

Systems and methods for direct communication between aircraft for one or more embodiments are adapted to receive tactical and strategic information related to proximate aircraft for improved flight planning. The systems and methods presented herein may be implemented, for example, in a first aircraft having a data link component adapted to process information, a storage component adapted to store information related to the first aircraft, and a communication interface component adapted to directly communicate with a second aircraft via a communication link. The first aircraft may include a user interface component adapted to interact with the data link component to retrieve information related to the first aircraft from the storage component, generate a request message with the information related to the first aircraft, and communicate with the communication interface component to directly transmit the generated request message to the second aircraft via the communication link.

Direct aircraft-to-aircraft data link communication

A Data Link Clearance Alerting System is enabled, either manually or automatically, as soon as the flight crew establishes a data link connection with air traffic control. Once a connection is established, the system stores each ATC clearance that has been positively acknowledged, and accepted, by the crew. The system monitors the aircraft in relation to the clearance. An alert is provided to the flight crew as soon as, in some cases just prior to, the airplane is not in compliance with a clearance. In addition, an alert is provided when estimates (e.g. estimated time of arrival at a point) or intent data passed to ATC by data link communication or data link surveillance systems no longer reflect the aircraft's predicted flight path.

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Snohomish, WA, United States of America

John Allin Brown