United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

Sagem Avionics, Inc.

Laurent Bloch

Thomas R Chidester

Robert E Lawrence

Thomas A Ferryman

Brett Amidan

Robert E Lynch

Gary L Prothero

Timothy P Romanowski

Jean-Michel Toussaint

Douglas A Drew

Robert J Ainsworth

William L Craine

Vincent J Zaccardi

A method and corresponding system use a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) card to remotely communicate and interface with flight performance data on an aircraft. The PCMCIA card can be plugged into an Aircraft Condition Monitoring Systems (ACMS) using a card interface. The method and system offer a global communication architecture that can be implemented with existing ACMS devices and with any flight data acquisition unit (FDAU) equipped with a storage card, such as a PCMCIA card. The PCMCIA card offers real-time wireless communication between the ACMS on an aircraft and a ground station without any hardware and/or software modifications to the ACMS.

PCMCIA card for remotely communicating and interfacing with aircraft condition monitoring systems

Method and system for analyzing, separately or in combination, kinetic energy and potential energy and/or their time derivatives, measured or estimated or computed, for an aircraft in approach phase or in takeoff phase, to determine if the aircraft is or will be put in an anomalous configuration in order to join a stable approach path or takeoff path. A reference value of kinetic energy and/or potential energy (or time derivatives thereof) is provided, and a comparison index for the estimated energy and reference energy is computed and compared with a normal range of index values for a corresponding aircraft maneuver. If the computed energy index lies outside the normal index range, this phase of the aircraft is identified as anomalous, non-normal or potentially unstable.

Energy index for aircraft maneuvers

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Dallas, TX, United States of America

Laurent Bloch