Ex Parte Ludwig et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Aug 25, 2016

13089431 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 25, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 13/089,431 04/19/2011 89953 7590 HONEYWELL/FOGG Patent Services 115 Tabor Road P.O. Box 377 MORRIS PLAINS, NJ 07950 08/29/2016 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Patrick Ludwig UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. H0029890-5435 1418 EXAMINER KIM,EUNHEE ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2123 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 08/29/2016 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address( es): patentservices-us@honeywell.com docket@fogglaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte PATRICK LUDWIG, THOMAS D. JUDD, KARTHIK RAO, and NEERAJ K. GANGW AR Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 Technology Center 2100 Before BRUCE R. WINSOR, LINZY T. McCARTNEY, and NATHAN A. ENGELS, Administrative Patent Judges. PERCURIAM. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from a final rejection of claims 1, 3-5, 7, 8, and 15-20. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We REVERSE and enter a NEW GROUND OF REJECTION. Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Claim 1 illustrates the claimed invention: 1. A multifunction-control-display-unit emulator for use on an aircraft the multifunction-control-display-unit emulator compnsmg: a display operationally positioned in a forward-field area of a cockpit of the aircraft; a processor communicatively coupled to the display; a data-entry interface communicatively coupled to the processor; and at least one electronic interface to interface an avionics host system in the aircraft to the processor, wherein the avionics host system implements at least one application and at least one protocol for use on the multifunction-control-display-unit emulator, wherein the display, the data-entry interface, and the at least one electronic interface are positioned within the aircraft to emulate a multifunction control display unit in the aircraft, and to function as one of: 1) a replacement multifunction control display unit for another multifunction control display unit in the aircraft; or 2) an additional multifunction control display unit in the aircraft, the additional multifunction control display unit being in addition to the other multifunction control display unit in the aircraft. App. Br. 12. The Examiner rejected claims 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 15-18, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Ellis et al. (US 6,789,007 B2; issued Sept. 7., 2004) ("Ellis") and Bloch et al. (US 2005/02285 59 A 1; published Oct. 13, 2005) ("Bloch"). Ans. 2---6. 2 Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 The Examiner rejected claims 3 and 19 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Ellis, Bloch, and ARINC, The DSP Contract, CNS/ ATM Conference 1-37 (2009) ("ARINC"). Ans. 7-8. 1 ANALYSIS Claim 1 recites "a display operationally positioned in a forward-field area of a cockpit of the aircraft." App. Br. 12. With respect to this limitation, the Examiner found the specification "vaguely defines two different forward-field areas within the cockpit." Ans. 9 (citing Spec. i-f 10). Accordingly, the Examiner found that Appellants did not clearly define the "forward field area of the cockpit" and concluded that the broadest reasonable interpretation of the term "forward" "is a relative direction which is a direction of a person looking toward." Id. Applying this interpretation, the Examiner found that the display of Ellis' s maintenance terminal, which is installed in the flight compartment of the aircraft, teaches or suggests the "display" recited in claim 1. See id. at 3 (citing Ellis Fig. 1, col. 4, 11. 1-31 ), 8. According to the Examiner, Ellis's display is "operationally positioned in a forward-field area of a cockpit of the aircraft" because Ellis' s display is located in the flight compartment (i.e., the cockpit) such that the pilot is looking in a "forward" field when looking at the display. See id. at 9. Appellants contend the Examiner erred in finding that Ellis' s maintenance terminal teaches or suggests the "display" recited in claim 1. 1 Appellants filed an amendment canceling claims 2, 6, and 9-14 and rewriting claim 1 to include the limitations previously recited in claims 2 and 6. See App. Br. 1, 12-13. The Examiner entered the amendment and modified the grounds of rejection accordingly. See Ans. 2-8. Therefore, only the rejections claims 1, 3-5, 7, 8, and 15-20 are before us. 3 Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 Reply Br. 2-3. Appellants assert that the specification clearly defines "a forward-field area of the cockpit" as "that area in the cockpit toward which the pilot is looking when viewing the scene in front of the aircraft," where "the bottom edge of the forward-field area of the cockpit begins at the top of the consol [sic] in front of the pilot." App. Br. 7 (citing Spec. i-f 10); see Reply Br. 2. Appellants argue that in light of this explicit definition of "forward-field area of the cockpit," the Examiner's construction of the term as "a relative direction which is a direction of a person looking toward" is erroneous. See Reply Br. 2-3. Moreover, Appellants argue there is no teaching or suggestion in Ellis that the disclosed maintenance terminal is "a display operationally positioned in a forward-field area of a cockpit of the aircraft." App. Br. 6-8; Reply Br. 1. We find Appellants' arguments persuasive. The specification discloses that "the forward-field area of a cockpit is that area in the cockpit toward which the pilot is looking when viewing the scene in front of the aircraft," where "the bottom edge of the forward-field area of the cockpit begins at the top of the consol [sic] in front of the pilot." Spec. i-f 10. The specification also discloses that, in some embodiments, "there is a second forward-field area of the cockpit that begins at the top of the console in front of the co-pilot." Id. Given these disclosures, the broadest reasonable interpretation of "a display operationally positioned in a forward-field area of a cockpit of the aircraft" includes a display located in the areas of cockpit toward which the pilot or co-pilot looks when viewing the scene in front of the aircraft, wherein the bottom edges of the forward-field areas of the cockpit begin at the top of the console in front of the pilot or co-pilot. 4 Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 Therefore, although we agree with the Examiner that Ellis teaches displaying a maintenance terminal in the cockpit of an aircraft, the cited portions of Ellis do not disclose a particular location of the terminal within the cockpit, much less that the terminal begins at the top of the console in front of the pilot or co-pilot. See Ans. 3--4, 8-9. And the Examiner has not shown why one of ordinary skill would position Ellis' s maintenance terminal at or above the top of the console, rather than elsewhere in the cockpit. See id. Accordingly, as Appellants contend, Ellis does not teach or suggest "a display operationally positioned in a forward-field area of a cockpit of the aircraft." See App. Br. 6-8; Reply Br. 1-3. We therefore do not sustain the rejections of claim 1 and its dependent claims (claims 3-5, 7, and 8). Because the Examiner's rejection of independent claim 15 has a similar deficiency, we also do not sustain the Examiners' rejection of claim 15 and claims 16-20, which depend from claim 15. NEW GROUND OF REJECTION WITHIN 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(b) Claim 1 We enter a new ground of rejection for claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Ellis, Bloch, and Briffe et al. (US 6,112,141; issued Aug. 29, 2000) ("Briffe"). We adopt as our own the Examiner's findings, conclusions, and reasoning regarding claim 1 except, as discussed above, we disagree that Ellis' s maintenance terminal teaches or suggests "a display operationally positioned in a forward-field area of a cockpit of the aircraft" as recited in claim 1. However, positioning information in "forward-field area of the 5 Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 cockpit of the aircraft" was well-known in the art of aircraft display and control systems at the time of Appellants' invention, as evidenced by Briffe. See Briffe, Fig. 1, item 32; col. 4, 1. 65---col. 5, 1. 2 ("A glare shield 30 is located above the control units 23,24,26,28. Above glare shield 30 and superimposed on the captains' view through a windshield 31 is a Head-up Display (HUD) area 32."); col. 30, 11. 52-59). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Ellis' s invention to include the recited display in the "forward-field area of the cockpit of the aircraft." One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for a number of reasons. For example, the modification would result in placing a known element (a display) in a location known for displaying data in an aircraft (the "forward-field area of the cockpit of the aircraft") to achieve a predictable result-placing information on the display in a pilot's line of sight. See KSR Int'! Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 416 (2007) ("The combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results."). Moreover, there are finite number of places to place a display in an airplane cockpit, and as shown by Briffee, it is well known to place a display in the "forward-field area of the cockpit of the aircraft." Therefore, it would have been obvious to try placing the claimed display in this area. See id. at 421 ("When there is a design need or market pressure to solve a problem and there are a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp."). 6 Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 Not to mention that placing a display in the "forward-field area of the cockpit of the aircraft" is a logical, common sense solution to the problem of making the displayed information easily accessible to pilots. See Perfect Web Techs., Inc. v. InfoUSA, Inc., 587 F.3d 1324, 1329 (Fed. Cir. 2009) (holding that an obviousness analysis "may include recourse to logic, judgment, and common sense available to the person of ordinary skill that do not necessarily require explication in any reference or expert opinion"). Finally, placing a display in the "forward-field area of the cockpit of the aircraft" is simply a design choice that does not result in novel or unexpected results and is not outside the abilities of those of ordinary skill in the art. See Manual of Patent Examining Procedure§ 2144.04; see also In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553, 555 (CCPA 1975) (concluding the placement of an electrical contact was an obvious matter of design choice); Leapfrog Enters., Inc. v. Fisher-Price, Inc., 485 F.3d 1157, 1162 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (concluding a claim would have been obvious when the appellant failed to present evidence that the proposed modification "was uniquely challenging or difficult for one of ordinary skill in the art"). Because this analysis deviates from the Examiner's rejection, we designate our findings and conclusion to be a new ground of rejection for claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Ellis, Bloch, and Briffe. Claims 3-5, 7, 8, and 15-20 We have entered a new ground of rejection for claim 1. Should prosecution continue, the Examiner may consider the patentability of the remaining claims in light of the findings and conclusions discussed above. The fact that we did not enter new grounds of rejection for claims 3-5, 7, 8, 7 Appeal2015-003397 Application 13/089,431 and 16-20 should not be interpreted to mean that we consider these claims to be patentable over the prior art of record. DECISION The decision of the Examiner to reject claims 1, 3-5, 7, 8, and 15-20 is reversed. We enter a new ground of rejection for claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Ellis, Bloch, and Briffe. Section 41.50(b) provides that "[a] new ground of rejection ... shall not be considered final for judicial review." Section 41. 50(b) also provides that Appellants, WITHIN TWO MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE DECISION, must exercise one of the following two options with respect to the new ground of rejection to avoid termination of the appeal as to the rejected claims: (1) Reopen prosecution. Submit an appropriate amendment of the claims so rejected or new Evidence relating to the claims so rejected, or both, and have the matter reconsidered by the examiner, in which event the prosecution will be remanded to the examiner .... (2) Request rehearing. Request that the proceeding be reheard under§ 41.52 by the Board upon the same Record. REVERSED 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(b) 8 Notice of References Cited * Document Number Date Country Code-Number-Kind Code MM-YYYY A US- 6112141 08-2000 B US- c US- D US- E US- F US- G US- H US- I US- J US- K US- L US- M US- * Document Number Date Country Code-Number-Kind Code MM-YYYY N 0 p Q R s T Application/Control No. 13/089,431 Examiner U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Name Briffe et al. FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS Country NON-PATENT DOCUMENTS Name Applicant(s)/Patent Under Patent Appeal No. Art Unit I Page 1 of 1 12100 Classification Classification * Include as applicable: Author, Title Date, Publisher, Edition or Volume, Pertinent Pages) u v w x *A copy of this reference 1s not being furnished with this Office action. (See MPEP § 707.05(a).) Dates in MM-YYYY format are publication dates. Classifications may be US or foreign. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office PT0-892 (Rev. 01-2001) Notice of References Cited Part of Paper No. United States Patent [19J Briffe et al. [54] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GRAPHICALLY ORIENTED AIRCRAFT DISPLAY AND CONTROL [75] Inventors: Michel Briffe; Guy Mitaux-Maurouard, both of Salon, France [73] Assignee: Dassault Aviation, France [21] Appl. No.: 08/950,758 [22] [51] [52] [58] [56] Filed: Oct. 15, 1997 Int. Cl.7 G09G 5/08; G06F 3/14; G06F 17/00 U.S. Cl. .............................. 701/14; 701/211; 345/331 Field of Search .............................. 701/14, 202, 206, 4,999,782 5,041,982 5,057,835 5,086,396 5,179,638 5,216,611 5,227,786 5,287,451 5,299,417 5,331,562 5,337,982 5,340,061 5,358,199 5,359,890 5,408,413 5,412,382 5,414,631 5,445,021 5,450,323 5,475,594 5,508,928 5,510,991 5,519,392 5,560,570 701/11, 208, 211, 212, 201; 73/178 R; 340/995, 971, 973; 345/331, 332; 244/175 References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 3/1991 BeVan ..................................... 364/448 8/1991 Rathnam ................................. 364/443 10/1991 Factor et al. ............................ 340/995 2/1992 Waruszewski, Jr ..................... 364/454 1/1993 Dawson et al. ......................... 395/125 6/1993 McElreath ............................... 364/454 7 /1993 Hancock .. ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... .... .. 340/961 2/1994 Favot et al. ............................. 395/164 4/1994 Page et al. . .... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... 60/39 .282 7/1994 McGuffin ................................ 364/449 8/1994 Sherry ..................................... 244/186 8/1994 Vaquier et al. ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... 244/17 5 10/1994 Hayes et al. ............................ 244/1 R 11/1994 Fulton et al. ......................... 73/178 R 4/1995 Gonser et al. .......................... 364/446 5 /1995 Leard et al. ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... 340/97 4 5/1995 Denoize et al. ........................ 364/461 8/1995 Cattoen et al. ....................... 73/178 R 9/1995 Maupillier et al. ................ 364/424.06 12/1995 Oder et al. ......................... 364/424.06 4/1996 Tran ........................................ 364/423 4/1996 Pierson et al. .......................... 364/434 5/1996 Oder et al. .............................. 340/995 10/1996 Pierson et al. .......................... 244/195 I lllll llllllll Ill lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll 111111111111111111111111111111111 US006112141A [11] Patent Number: [45] Date of Patent: 6,112,141 Aug. 29, 2000 5,561,811 5,574,647 5,606,657 5,608,392 5,617,522 5,715,163 5,736,922 5,797,106 5,797,562 5,900,869 5,956,019 10/1996 Bier ............................................. 710/5 11/1996 Liden ...................................... 364/433 2/1997 Dennison et al. ...................... 395/501 3/1997 Faivre et al. ............................ 340/967 4/1997 Peltier ..................................... 395/133 2/1998 Bang et al. . ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... 701/202 4/1998 Goode, III et al. ..................... 340/974 8/1998 Murray et al. ............................ 701/11 8/1998 Wyatt ...................................... 244/1 R 5/1999 Higashio ................................. 345/332 9/1999 Bang et al. ............................. 345/173 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Ulbrich et al.; Controls and Displays for Douglas Aircraft for the 1990s; Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 1992; IEEE/AIAA 11th; pp. 178-182. Description of Collins Pro Line 21 Cockpit Instrumentation, 3 pgs., No Date. Ditter, Al, "An Epic in the Making", Commuter World, Dec. 96-Jan. 97, pp. 16-21. ''Collins Tests 3-D Free-Flight 1.AJ..\vareness Display'', _fllight International, Jan. 1997, p. 19. George, Fred, "Introducing Primus Epic", Business & Com- mercial Aviation, Nov. 1996, pp. 116-120. George, Fred, "Primus Epic Features Evolution of Integrated Systems Plus Concepts Pioneered for B-777", Show News NBAA '96, Nov. 10, 1996, 1 pg. George, Fred, "Flying the Future of Avionics Today; Primus Epic Makes Converts at Show", Show News NBAA '96, Nov. 21, 1996, p. 16. (List continued on next page.) Primary Examiner-Michael J. Zanelli Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P. [57] ABSTRACT An aircraft display and control system includes a computer, a trackball and selection device, an aeronautical information database, a geographic database, and a plurality of fiat panel display devices. The aircraft crew can perform fiightplan entry and modification by manipulating graphical informa- tion on the display devices using cursor control. 21 Claims, 24 Drawing Sheets 6,112,141 Page 2 OIBER PUBLICATIONS Holahan, James, "LCDs, Mice on the Flight Deck!", Avia- tion International News, Midland Park, Nov. 1, 1996, pp. 56-58. Holahan, James, "Honeywell's Primus Epic: avionics for the millennium", NBAA Convention News, Orlando, FL, Nov. 20, 1996, p. 22. Product Review entitled "New Glass for the Glass Cockpit", 2 pgs, No Date. Nordwall, Bruce D., "Collins Pro Line 21 Features Adaptive Flight Displays", Aviation Week & Space Technology, Nov. 18, 1996, pp. 63-66. North, David M., "Gulfstream 5 Sets Pace for Long-Range Bizjets",Aviation Week & Space Technology, Apr. 28, 1997, pp. 46-51. Phillips, Edward H., "Learjet 45 Avionics Includes EICAS Display", Aviation Week & Space Technology, Sep. 22, 1997, p. 72. Proctor, Paul, "Epic Avionics in Flight Test", Aviation Week & Space Technology, Sep. 22, 1997, p. 70. Scott, William B., "Pentium Powers 'Epic' Integrated Avi- onics", Aviation Week & Space Technology, Nov. 18, 1996, pp. 67-69. Scott, William B., "Need for Value Sparks Avionics Revo- lution", Aviation Week & Space Technology, Oct. 4, 1995, 2 pgs. Trautvetter, Chad, "Next-century Avionics-Honeywell's Primus Epic will change the way pilots work in the cockpit", Professional Pilot, Nov. 1996, pp. 96-102. "Pro Line 21 development driven by human factors", Van- tage Point, vol. 2, No. 4, 3 pgs., No Date. Weisberger, Harry, "Collins readies new avionics in a hurry", Show News NBAA '95, Sep. 26, 1995, pp. 15-16. U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 1of24 32 ~ 62 .. ®t . -• ~ II [f ·~ ~: 70 / 58 30 34 44 53 1l FIG.1 [t .. ®':: ·: ~ : - " . 14 6,112,141 70 '\60 U.S. Patent 16 / PFD 65c "'\ Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 2 of 24 6,112,141 18 20 / / MFD MFD PFD ____J 71 71 ~SENSr:Jlrt\ MAU RlT~T L__ INTERFACE ~ ssa/ COMPUTER 63 ,i-- MAU ._,___.~65b &9 65d\_ MAU MULTIFUNCTION MULTIFUNCTION CD-ROM READER SERVOS AfJ/AT CONTROL \ 23 CONTROL CONTROL \ ?.--~---. FIG. 2 AfJ/AT CONTROL I 24 UTILITY SENSORS U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 3 of 24 6,112,141 N1% 83.4 {7\540 ~ ~1.1 I 2000 16, 22 !> 150 N2 % 1r FF PPH 120 72 98 74a 100 80 TO *WPT1 3.3 01:13 DEST TOU15R 124.7 14:59Z 14:12:54 z ET00:57 ffi 78 DME1 3.IN BOX DTK 240 82a 82b 76 83.4 N1% 540 {7'\ 2000 \/ ~.1 b FIG. 3 ND 0 s 0 4 T ===--- - A F~S ~10 7 8 ' 20 DME2 90.0N AGN 82e NU TAS 161 GS 165 TAT 9 SAT 6 ISA+09 BAROS ET 74 74c 80 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 4 of 24 6,112,141 88 y 84 l=I~ .d. I l'-il'• --y U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 74a I> 150 180 160 140r 120 FROM SAUVETER 17:48:54 z TO AGN 06:21 NEXT LFBO 14:12:54 z ET00:57 CJ RNG NAV DATA ET a:_o o 78 TK 182 Sheet 5 of 24 6,112,141 72 TRU DME2 ~ 135/11 74 90.0N AGN TAS 161 GS 165 74c M/FT CJ 74b BARO SET FIG. 5 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 6 of 24 HORIZONTAL GUIDANCE ONLY -( )- VERTICAL GUIDANCE ONLY BOTH HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL GUIDANCE FIG. 6 ~ 6,112,141 90 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 7 of 24 6,112,141 16, 22 ( w C> 250 3000 0 180 -- 0 122 160 30 0 120 140 -- 60 20 11 640 120 20 -- 0 ~ 116 100 3 ~ ~ l__J 1013 TO T TRU I ~ I AGN E 4.4 ' ' / / 01:52 ' / .... -.......... --- .. ' DEST , ' TAS 144 I ' , +01 ' ' ,. 15R I \ GS 144 I <>D , \ 32.4 -~ I I I I 10 : -4or I 03:11Z I TAT -1 I I I I I en- SAT -4 \ 02:57:49z \ I ' I ' , ' ISA +04 ' , , ' --<> ' , -...... ___ ... .... / -42 ' GW 34760 ' ' FR 10220 M \ QTY 10220 I I I SNAV UNAVAILABLE 74b RNG NAV DATA ET MAGITRU TCAS RADAR M/FT HPA INC 8 [D) [D) ID) IQ ID) [DJ (§) 82d BAROS ET FiG. 7 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 8 of 24 6,112,141 21a \ 21b FIG. 8 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 9 of 24 6,112,141 120 122 544 N1 % 83.4 {J'\540 \, u81.1 I 2000 EN ROUTE HIGH N2 % ITI c FF PPH 83.4 N1% 540/h 2000 \, ~.1 ) BUB OD CH~ SIDAN l INIT I IENG/CONF 11 WEATHER I l;::::AP=T=====: __ ........, FLTPLAN IFUEUENV 11 TCAS l!SID MAP I ARRIVAL I IHYDRAUL 11 GCAS I [ROUTE LO Ir----___,~ FLTSUMM I !ELECTRIC 11 LSS I !ROUTE HI I NAVLOG I INAVDATA 11 W/CNTR I !STAR MAP! AFIS I !SENSORS)(] GEO I IAPPR MAP! MA!NTEN I I AIRPORTS I I AIRWAYS I l~VE-=-R"="'PR,....,,..O=--F I LFBM PWPT5 --o-MDM ------)~ FIG. 9 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 10 of 24 6,112,141 DATE 1> AUG 261997 GMT 1> 13:37:44 ACTIVE NOB AUG 011997 • AUG 311997 I HOG I AIRPORT ATIS: GND: 121.901121.72 TWR: 118.30/118.10 POS INIT N 00.00.001 E 000.00.001 C'I~ '1 n r l\J. I U LOCAL 1>15:37:44 I LOAD I r-1 -P-RE-FL--=T ==: 1> LFBD BORDEAUX MERIGNAC FRANCE RNG s U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 11 of 24 6,112,141 FROM: LIROL TO: KOOOS FL450 MACH 0.82 LFOE .. ULAN .. CHW .. ANG .. CGC .. BOX .. PPN .. BAN .. TLO .. FARO .. ETRAM .. GOV .. OKR .. GASEL.. TAROT .. UROL.. KOOOS .. BURGA .. FUALT WO COMP DIST ETE FULB FF LBIH FT LFOE M/IAS ISADEV DISTR MCS FRLB MRLB ETA ULAN t> CLB t> ·25 33 00:08 200 2400 0:08 L> 250 > -4 5740 238 6700 +30 06:08 CHW > 250 > +2 22 00:10 240 2400 0:18 > 0.78 > -4 5709 133 6460 +30 06:18 ANG > 430 > ·21 93 00:24 0:42 > 0.86 t> -4 5616 237 06:42 CGC > 430 > +20 80 00:19 1:01 > 0.86 > .3 5536 180 07:01 BOX > 430 > +20 53 00:12 1 :13 > 0.86 > .3 5483 203 07:13 I COMPUTE I 6. v I PRINT I I FLTPLAN I I ACTIVATE I \ ' ISADEV I> JM= J ~ MACH: I LRC I MSPD I> FL- LOG I TAS= I ~ FL I QPT I MAX CURRENT Nm/lb= 124 RNG 0 FIG. 11 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 12 of 24 6,112,141 126 j r-BO_R_D~-U-X_F_U_M---W-D-/ID-V---0/-DR----ETEITK-----F-U/F-R---FF_m_FR--~-~-~---. *WPT 3 6000 6.1 00+02 90 221 O 00+05 170 0 119.7 132 12870 0 15H39 6000 1. 7 00+00 20 2200 00+05 0 117.9 179 12850 0 15H40 *WPT4 170 TOULOUSE FR= 11480 DFR = - - - - · TIG = 30:12 ETA= 16H04 I I I I I '-/ /, ............ --1---- ......... I ,,,, / ..... ' ,,,, ' \ \ \ -, I \ 1 I \ \ I \ I \ I ,,,, '/ ' / ..... .... ..... .,. .... ' ......... _,_ - -- _.,. l=I~ 1? I l~I ·- \ RNG 544 ~ U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 13 of 24 6,112,141 538 83.4 ~~ ~ 540 ITI \, "s 11 ' 2000 qH 83.4 N1% :0 N1% DATE C> JUN 201996 GMT C> 14:00:32 ACTIVE NOB APRIL 011996 JUN 301996 ATIS: GND: 121.90/121.72 'TWR: 118.30/118.10 11 RNG &544 FIG. 13 ND 0 ~ ~-0 4 A FLAPS ,, 2 1 0 0 7 B 40 NU LOCAL C> 16:00:32 536 540 U.S. Patent I HOG I C> I I I I I .. I I '5 \ \ Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 14 of 24 SID t> LFBD ,,,,,,,,,.---1-- ...... ... "' ..... "' ..... / ' .< .&BO, / I '/ /!~\ /' B 35 I I 179 , I I I I \ I '\ •WPT5 '( ' .... .... .... ... ...., - -L - - ~ WPT6 WPT5 .WPT6 5 FIG. 14 6,112,141 543 BORDEAUX MERIGNAC FRANCE RNG 544~ 584 542 546 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 15 of 24 6,112,141 545 ,,. ' <0' ......... ,,, ~FBP' D6BT u ( , , ' \ \ ' 560~ 546 6000 50 FIG. 15 544 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 16 of 24 6,112,141 WPTLIST EN ROUTE LOW I HIGH! ORIG C> LFOE [> 250 +-- t> ULAN t> 6000 [> 290 +-- t> CHW t> 12000 [> 290 +-- t> CON C> 12000 [> 290 +-- t> ANG t> 12000 [> 290 +-- C> CGC C> 12000 545 550 l> 290 +-- t> BOX t> 12000 t> 290 +-- C> BTZ C> 12000 [> 290 +-- C> PPN C> 12000 LFBC ,A 546 544 FIG. 16 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 17 of 24 PAGE ~ 504 PAGE CffJ 504 PAGE I = ~~~~ ~ N VERTICAL ~~ N MODES c c SELECTING c STATUS SELECTING STATUS AND STATUS 528 <][> CPL ASEL 'Jl =-~ ~ ..... 531 534 510 527 N c 0 ....., N .i;;.. FIG. 20 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 21 of 24 6,112,141 5 60 \ ... ~ I AUTO I I MANUAL I I FPL LIST l I LOAD I [§] [gJ ORIGIN t> LFBD DEST t> LFBO ALTN t> LFBM BASIC WEIGHT 22000 LBS 562 54 PASSENGERS 10 AT 200 LBS I SHOW MAP I ' I SHOWLOG !/ \ CARGO WEIGHT 500 LBS FUEL REQUIRED 3100 LBS 5 AVERAGE WIND C> 10 KTS FUELATDEST 10000 LBS RESERVES INBAA I LBS TIME TO DEST 0:25 H:M FUEL lASREQ I 10220 LBS T/OWEIGHT 35900 LBS SPEED I LRC I IMCRU IC> 0.780 INITIAL ~ I ACTIVATE ~ CRZFL !OPT It> 100 INITIAL 568 564 RWY IQ[] ~ [![] ~ !MORE I MAXWGT 48500 LBS LENGTH:> 3100 I 10170 M/FT BFL 1790 M SLOPE t> 0.1% V1 C> 138 KTS ELEV C> 151 FT V2=VR C> 156 KTS BARO PRESS 1007 HPA J ONH 1012 HPA VFR C> 181 KTS 5 56 OBSTACLE: HGT C> 0 FT DIST t> 0 NM VFT C> 205 KTS \ WIND C> 200 I 10 KTS TEMP t> 20 oc ACCEL 0:25 G sso./ ATTITUDE C> 12.0 DG FlAPS ~ [1[J N1 RED C> % ANTI ICE !OFF I ~ LOCTRK C> 225.0 OG RUNWAY !DRY I ml TOSA C> 600 FT TIO PROC !NORM I !REDUCED I '-/ 5641 I ~ACTIVATE ~ SID ISAU·3A I 582 !MORE I I 1 ACTIVATE TRANSITION ALT C> 18000 FT I I REVIEW I 552 RNG 544\@ FIG. 21 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 22 of 24 6,112,141 576 574 544 18, 20 N1% 83.4 ~ 83.4 N1% 0 540 ITI 540w 2000 F~ 2000 81 l PPH .1 I ND 0 s T -0 4 A FLAPS~'10 7 8 4 20 NU C> ------ OEST C> LFBO ALTN C> LFBM LFBC /<1 PWPT5 bijM -----~"MOM ~~ FIG. 22 572 570 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 23 of 24 6,112,141 I DEST I> LFBO ARRIVAL ~I RWY [I§[] l33L I [§[] l33R I !MOREi STAR IAGN-25 I IASPET-28 I ITAN-28 I ITB0-2S I !MOREi )0 TRANSITION \05L I I05L I I05L I !osL I / 2 APPROACH IVFR I llLS 15R I llLS 15Rs I I 15RVORD I DH 1> FT MDA 1> FT I VRF I> 129 KTS I I REVIEW I I ACTIVATE I LENGTH 1> 3550 / 11640 M/FT c MAXWGT 19290 LBS J 0 SLOPE I> 0.0% 608\. M LFL 2080 M " p ELEV 1> 489 FT QNH I> 1013 HPA u VGA 1> 182 KTS 06 \All~n I> ')M/ 1n l{T~ ii::uc 1> ?n or. T '"'""' r £..\IVI IU 1\1 \.I I lo.ITU .. v .., E WITH FLAPS 20 LOG WEIGHT 35940 LBS IUPDATEI LOCTRK I> 134.0 DG ONE ENG FAIL [N[J IYES I HUD SLOPE 1> 3.0 DG LOG FLAPS [iD [U RWY ELEV I> 489 FT AIRBRAKES [N[J ~ ANTI ICE lOFF I ~ LFL FACTOR @=] [Il[] OJ I ACTIVATE I 604 / ~~ /' 600 544 RNG ~ FiG. 23 U.S. Patent Aug. 29, 2000 Sheet 24 of 24 6,112,141 SENSORS ~ IRS1 NAV 0.1N/013 IMOREI I GPS1 I RAIM O.ON1119lMOREl IRS2 NAV 0.1N/137 IMOREI I GPS2 I RAIM O.ON/222 MORE IRS3 NAV 0.1N/286 IMOREI I GPS3 I RAIM VOR1 TBS 0.1N/297 IMOREI I DME1 I 0.2N/320 MORE VOR2 TBS O.ON/269 IMOREI I DME2 I ---· 0.2N/303I MORE I ITQ] C-.-- ~I .... - - .... \ ,,.. ' ,,.. ' / ' "- " / \ WPT1 I \ I \ I \ I I WPT2 '011eox I I- ~ PCROTOC ' I I 15 \ I \ I \ I \ / '( > ' / ' ,,.. ' ,,.. .,.._, - -L... - -- .... ---- ------ -11000-- - 5 RNG @ FiG. 24 6,112,141 1 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GRAPHICALLY ORIENTED AIRCRAFT DISPLAY AND CONTROL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates generally to aircraft control and, more particularly, to an improved aircraft control interface. 2. Description of the Related Art Since the days of the Wright brothers, aircraft pilots have been faced with two major tasks. First, the pilot must accurately determine and constantly be aware of the current aircraft status, including location, direction, speed, altitude, attitude, and the rate of change of all of the above. Second, the pilot must be able to quickly and accurately control the aircraft to bring about a change in the above parameters to achieve a desired status of aircraft. In the early days of aviation, the first task was achieved by pilot awareness of visual and tactile stimulation. That is, the pilot looked around to see where he was, felt the wind pressure, and kept aware of acceleration forces pressing his body into the seat and around the cockpit. The second task was achieved by manually operating a mechanical pulley and lever arrange- ment to bend and pivot the horizontal and vertical control surfaces of the aircraft. 2 ground landmark, such as an airport, or may represent an imaginary point in the sky where two radio signals intersect. The location of these waypoints in stored in the database. The pilot can enter a flight plan into the FMS by selecting a sequential series of waypoints through which the aircraft will travel. Each waypoint is uniquely identified by a three-letter designator or short name. For example, the designator for Washington National Airport is DCA. A nearby waypoint 10 used by aircraft navigating in the Washington area is HOAGE intersection, representing the intersection of two radial lines respectively emanating from navigation trans- mitters on the frequencies of 112.1 and 113.5 MHz. Additional automation has been introduced into the cock- 15 pit through various types of automated systems and moni- toring functions. Malfunctioning equipment or unsafe air- craft operating parameters will generate a variety of warning lights, audio signals, and even voice signals. Although the present state of aircraft control systems has provided a vast improvement over the systems of previous 20 eras, significant shortcomings still exist with respect to the goal of providing the safest possible aircraft operation. Many of these shortcomings relate to the vast proliferation of data which is suppiied to the piiot and to the inefficient way in which this data is provided. For example, many 25 cockpits have literally hundreds of warning lights scattered all over the cockpit. Furthermore, pilot input devices for specific functions are often dispersed in widely separated positions with insufficient thought given to pilot conve- nience. In addition, automated systems may provide 30 increased convenience and efficiency in one area but increased pilot workload in another. For example, flight management systems often require large amounts of time to tediously enter desired waypoints and related parameters through a keyboard. Furthermore, this massive data entry 35 process provides increased possibilities of error, sometimes with disastrous consequences. For example, improperly entering initial data into FMS at the beginning of a flight leg may have been a source of error leading to the disastrous course deviation and subsequent shooting down of Korean Airlines Flight 007. Initial developments to make the pilot's job easier included the provision of a magnetic compass to provide an indication of direction and pneumatic and mechanical instru- ments including altimeters, turn-and-bank indicators, etc., to provide indications of aircraft altitude and attitude. Subse- quent refinements of these early instruments provided more accurate indications of location and altitude through the use of instruments and flight parameter displays such as gyro- compasses and flight directors. Various types of radio signals provided even more accurate determination of the aircraft location through the use of devices such as automatic direction finders (ADF), distance measuring equipment (DME), VORTAC, LORAN, and inertial reference systems (IRS). 40 Although automation in the cockpit can reduce the pilot's workload, thereby increasing safety, a countervailing con- sequence of increasing automation is a tendency to increase a pilot's sense of isolation from intimate control of the aircraft. To the extent the pilot does not have complete and Increases in aircraft performance over the years also increased the pilot's workload. To deal with this workload increase, various types of automation were introduced into the cockpit. One device, known as an automatic pilot (autopilot or AP) relieves the pilot of the necessity to provide continuous hands-on input to the control stick or yoke. When activated while the aircraft is in a stable configuration flying at a constant altitude, speed, and heading, the auto- pilot will sense the tendency of the aircraft to deviate from 50 the established configuration and will automatically gener- 45 continuous knowledge of the functions of the automated systems of the aircraft, there is a tendency for pilots to initiate undesirable control inputs which conflict with the inputs the aircraft is receiving from the automated systems, ate inputs to the control surfaces to return and maintain the aircraft in the preset configuration. This configuration will thereby compromising safety. Another problem with existing systems is that they do not provide sufficient "situational awareness" to a pilot, thereby increasing the probability of accidents of the type referred to as "controlled flight into terrain" (CFiT). For example, current systems permit a pilot to command the autopilot to be maintained even in the face of changing wind conditions. More elaborate autopilots permit the pilot to enter data commanding a change in aircraft status, such as a command to climb to a pre-set altitude or turn to a preset heading. Another type of automation provided in modern cockpits 55 initiate a "Go to" command, causing the aircraft to imme- diately steer toward a designated location, without providing the pilot with adequate information regarding his current location. is the automatic throttle (autothrottle, or A1). The auto- throttle will maintain a preset aircraft speed by varying the 60 power setting on the engines as the aircraft climbs or descends. A further refinement in cockpit automation occurred with the introduction of the flight rnanagernent systern (Ftv1S). The FMS, in reality a type of specialized computer, includes 65 a database of pre-stored navigation landmarks known as waypoints. A waypoint may either coincide with an existing In view of the above considerations, it is desirable to provide an improved flight information and control system which permit simplified flight planning and navigation procedures, reduced cost, reduced pilot workload, and improved safety. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will 6,112,141 3 be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advan- tages of the invention will be realized and attained by the apparatus and methods particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof, as well as the appended drawings. To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described, the invention provides an aircraft flight manage- ment system. The system comprises a memory for storing a 10 geographical map database, an aeronautical information database, and a flight plan; a fiat-panel color display device; 4 In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a diagram of a flight deck which embodies the present invention; FIG. 2 is an electrical schematic diagram of the compo- nents of the flight deck of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a drawing of the display window of the Primary Flight Display (PFD) PFD of FIG. 1, with the "full rose" format; FIG. 4 is a drawing of the attitude direction indicator display window of the PFD of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a drawing of the display window of the PFD of FIG. 1, showing the "arc" format; FIG. 6 is a drawing of the flight director symbol; FIG. 7 is a drawing of the display window of the Primary Flight Display (PFD) PFD of FIG. 1, with the TCAS format; FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of the cursors of the captain and first officer displayed on multi- 20 function display units (MFDs) of the flight deck of FIG. 1; a cursor control device; a selection device; and a flight computer. The computer simultaneously displays on the display device selected portions of the map database as a 15 visible map display and portions of the aeronautical infor- mation database as aeronautical information indicators such that the geographic locations of aeronautical information indicators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display. The computer also generates a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by the cursor control device; and responds to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to store 25 portions of the aeronautical information database corre- sponding to the highlighted navigation aid indicators in the memory. Sequential operation of the cursor control device and selection device is thus operative to store a flight plan in the memory. 30 In another aspect, the invention provides a method for aircraft information display and control. The method com- prises the steps of storing in a memory a geographical map database and an aeronautical information database, simul- taneously displaying on fiat-panel display device selected 35 portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical information database as aero- nautical information indicators such that the geographic locations of aeronautical information indicators are corre- lated on the display device with the corresponding geo- 40 graphic locations of the map display, generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by a cursor control device, and responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor 45 location and to store portions of the aeronautical information database corresponding to the highlighted navigation aid indicators in the memory. Sequential operation of the cursor control device and selection device is operative to store a flight plan in the memory. 50 It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exem- plary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a 55 further understanding of the invention and are incorporated FIG. 9 is a drawing of the main menu of the MFD; FIG. 10 is a drawing of the INIT window of the MFD; FIG. 11 is a drawing of the NAVLOG window of the MFD; FIG. 12 is a drawing of the NAVDATA window of the MFD; FIG. 13 is a drawing of the MFD displaying an airport map; FIG. 14 is a drawing of the MFD displaying an SID chart; FIG. 15 is a drawing of the MFD displaying an enroute high-altitude chart; FIG. 16 is a drawing of the MFD displaying enroute high-altitude chart with a waypoint list; FIG. 17 is a drawing of the Multifunction Control Unit of the flight deck of FIG. 1, (MFCU) displaying the first menu page in the captain's station; FIG. 18 is a drawing of the MFCU displaying the second menu page in the captain's station; FIGS. 19 (a-g) are drawings of the MFCU displaying the sub pages in the captain's station; FIG. 20 is a drawing of the Auto pilot/Auto throttle controller of the flight deck of FIG. 1, displaying all the soft keys; FIG. 21 is a drawing of the MFD displaying a "flight plan" page; FIG. 22 is a drawing of the MFD displaying a "manual flight plan" page; FIG. 23 is a drawing of the MFD displaying an "arrival" page; and FIG. 24 is a drawing of the MFD displaying a "sensor" page. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a diagram of a flight deck 10 for a business jet which embodies the present in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one/ several embodiment(s) of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the inven- tion. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate ernbodi- ments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the objects, advantages, and principles of the invention. 60 invention. Flight deck 10 includes an instrument panel 12 and a pedestal 14. Instrument panel 12 includes four 6x8 inch color LCD screens 16,18,20,22. An Autopilot/ Autothrottle (AP/AT) controller 23, 24 and a Multi Function Control Unit (rv1FCU) 26, 28 arc each located above one of 65 the screens 16,18,20,22. A glare shield 30 is located above the control units 23,24,26,28. Above glare shield 30 and superimposed on the 6,112,141 5 captains' view through a windshield 31 is a Head-up Display (HUD) area 32. Outboard screens 16 and 22 each constitute a Primary Flight Display (PFD). Thus, each pilot has a PFD facing him, with AP/AT controller located above the PFD. All flight information and short-range information is there- fore located in the pilot's vertical line of sight to the view through the windshield. Inboard screens 18 and 20 each constitute a Multi- Function Displays (MFD). Each MFD is located in front of pedestal 14, with one MFCU 26 or 28 above each MFD. Both captain and first officer can use both MFDs, which only require coordinated management. This display configuration allows take-off with one MFD out of order. Instrument panel 12 also includes standby instruments (not shown). The standby instrument may be of conventional type, such as an altimeter, airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, and ILS glide slope/localizer indicator. Alternatively, they could be implemented as fiat panel electronic instruments. These instruments are meant only as a back-up to the screen displays. 6 preferably implemented as modules of modular avionics units (MAU) 65a-65d interconnected by a high-speed com- munications bus 66 such as the Avionics Standard Commu- nications Bus of Honeywell. An example is the EPIC system commercially available from Honeywell. Primary process- ing power of each MAU 65 is provided by a microprocessor, such as a Pentium processor. MAU 65a contains a processor functioning as a flight management system computer 63, including graphics drivers for LCD screens 16, 18, 20, 22. 10 MAU 65b contains communications modules for sensors 71 such as GPS ADF, VOR, ILS, and MLS receivers and VHF and HF communications transceivers. The sensors them- selves are connected to bus 66 via a radio interface unit 69. MAU 65c contains modules for autopilot servos, AP/AT 15 control units 23,24, MFCUs 26,28, and aircraft utility sen- sors. MAU 65d contains memory modules for storing data- bases and for data input units such as a CD-ROM reader 67. Other electrical configurations may of course be employed depending on the specific application, as is well- 20 know to those skilled in the art. For example, the electronic components of the flight deck may be implemented in point-to-point architecture, such as the Pro-Line System available fron1 Collins Radio. Control Yoke Pedestal 14 is located between the pilots' seats and has been intentionally reduced in width over the prior art, so as to give better visibility on all screens and to facilitate communication between pilots. Pedestal 14 includes the following controls: 25 The control yokes 58 and 60 for the captain and the first officer are mounted on control columns of conventional design. The control columns are pivotally hinged to allow fore and aft movement, and the yokes are rotatable left and right. The fore and aft movement of the control column is A QWERTY keyboard 34 for each pilot, which includes the alphabet, numbers from zero to nine, one touch ±, decimal, CLR, ENT, SHOW, SPACE,"/", INCREASE and DECREASE keys; A five-position switch 38 to access check-lists; Two independent power levers 40, with thrust reverser controls, which include the AT disconnection and the Take off/Go around (TOGA) palm-switches; Two trackballs 44, one for each MFD, which each include four special push-buttons: "Click" 48, "Centered" map 50, "Menu" 52, and "Plus/Minus" 53 (trackballs 44, could also be implemented as a touch-pad, joystick, or other type of cursor control); A lever 54 for speed brakes with three positions (0°, medium, fully extended); and A lever 56 for flaps/slats with four positions (0°, 10°, 20° and 40°). Keyboards 34, trackballs 44, and switches 48, 50, 52, and 53 provide pilot input to a flight management system (FMS) which performs conventional FMS functions as well as improved functions to be described in greater detail. The captain's area is fitted with a control yoke 58 includ- ing several fast-access controls to be described in detail below. Yoke 58 is the conventional type control handle to receive manual pilot inputs to modify control surfaces of the aircraft and alter the attitude of the aircraft. The first officer's area is fitted with a similar control yoke 60. Flight deck 10 also includes a simplified upper panel (above the windshield, not shown), which includes only fire panel and lights controls. Lateral panels (not shown) only consist of an oxygen control panel and a disk or CD-ROM driver which gives the capability to load data into the avionics system, such as flight plan, navigation log, radio management. Everything that is necessary for flight is set in front of the pilots' seats and on narrow pedestal 14. The flight deck is also fitted with three "master caution" lights 62 above each PFD, a reconfiguration box 63 at the bottorn left of the captain's PFD, and a reconfiguration box 64 at the bottom right of the copilot's PFD. FIG. 2 shows a simplified electrical schematic diagram of instrument panel 12. All components of flight deck 10 are 30 transmitted to the elevator surfaces to control the pitch attitude of the aircraft, and the rotation of the yoke is transmitted to the ailerons to roll the aircraft. Mechanical, hydraulic, or electrical connections may be used to connect the movement of the pilot controls to the control surfaces. 35 Alternatively, a stick or side stick controller able to pivot along two axes can replace the control column and yoke. Several electrical controls are mounted on the yoke or stick. Conventional controls (not shown) include a push-to- talk switch to activate communications radio transmitters, a 40 push-button autopilot disconnect switch, and switches to electrically trim the aircraft. A five-position multi-axis con- trol switch 70 is also included. Switch 70, is mounted on yokes 58 and 60 and is thumb activated. This switch is used to increase and decrease the value of the heading and the 45 flight path slope followed by the autopilot in a manner to be described later in greater detail. Sideways motion changes the heading or track, and fore/aft motion changes the slope. Pressing the switch in its central position generates an ENABLE signal which selects which course and slope is 50 followed by the A/P. Further details of multiaxis switch 70 are given in the section discussing the autopilot. Navigation Sensors Flight deck 10 uses receivers for the NAVSTAR and GLONASS global positioning system satellites (GPS) and 55 inertial reference sensor (IRS) platforms as principal navi- gation sensors. GPS receivers compute the aircraft's posi- tion from radio signals transmitted from a constellation of satellites. To provide greater accuracy, for example, when an aircraft is landing in poor visibility, differential GPS 60 (D-GPS) is employed, using a separate receiver to receive correction information from a ground station to increase the accuracy of the position solution derived from satellite signals. Another navigation sensor is the inertial reference systern 65 (IRS), which employs sensitive gyroscopes to measure the acceleration of the aircraft along three axes. By knowing the point of departure and the magnitude and duration of accel- 6,112,141 7 eration in a given direction, the IRS can compute the current location of the aircraft. Traditional navigational aids ("navaids") are also used to supplement GPS and IRS. These typically consist of various types of ground-based radio stations which transmit signals carrying encoded information, and an airborne receiver which interprets the information. These range in complexity and cost from the automatic direction finder (ADF) which points towards a single non-directional radio beacon on the ground, to LORAN which uses a worldwide chain of trans- 10 mitters to give exact location of the aircraft. VOR, VORTAC, and VOR/DME give a bearing from a known station, and with the appropriate equipment also give the distance from the station. ILS (instrument landing system) and MLS (microwave landing system) use specialized trans- 15 mitters located at many airports to enable landing in poor visibility. All the traditional navaids require ground trans- mission stations which are expensive to maintain and operate, and several are likely to be phased out in the future. In instrument panel 12, all navigation sensors, including 20 VOR/DME, GPS, ADF, ILS, MLS, IRS, LORAN, etc., are coupled to the system via bus 66 and are provided as inputs to the Ftv1S con1puter 63, residing as a n1odule in tv1AU 65a. The FMS thus becomes the sole navigational interface with the pilots, and conventional navigation aid receivers such as 25 the VOR/DME receiver become simple sensors for the FMS, without providing direct pilot access to the deviation from a VOR radial as in a conventional FMS. Guidance on a VOR radial remains possible through the FMS by choosing the VOR as a "TO" waypoint and by selecting a desired track to 30 that waypoint. The sensor that will provide guidance infor- mation in this particular case, however, will be GPS, if serviceable. Nevertheless, in addition to the permanent bearing indication from the FMS, VOR and ADF, bearings can be displayed on the PFD in order to survey an FMS 35 procedure. Both pilots can access the VOR, DME, andADF. Alternatively, it may be preferred to provide access for precision approach sources (DGPS, ICS, MLS, etc.) direct to the autopilot and display devices. 8 Two rotary knobs 78, 80 and six push-buttons 82a-82f are located at the bottom of each PFD. Knob 78 is a "RANGE" rotary knob to adjust the range scale of the HSI in preset increments, and includes a push-to-toggle function to switch between map and plan display formats of PFD 16, 22. Knob 80 is a "barometric setting" knob to enable baroset adjust- ments to the altimeter. Button 82a labeled "NAY DATA" provides display of a navigation data screen in a manner to be described later in greater detail. Button 82b labeled ET provides elapsed time functions on a chronometer. Button 82c labeled "MAG/TRU" switches between magnetic and true heading or track reference on all displays. Button 82d displays TCAS symbology in place of the current horizontal situation format on HSI 74. Button 82e labeled "RADAR" displays a weather-radar image on HSI 74, and button 82/ labeled "M/Ft" selects an additional altitude display expressed in meters. If preferred, some or all of buttons 82a-82f may be implemented as menu choices or soft keys. ADI 72 displayed in PFD 16, 20 and shown in more detail in FIG. 4 displays conventional information, but further includes an aircraft velocity vector (flight path angle) reticle 84, an "acceleration rate along path" reticle 86, pitch reticle 88, a flight director reticle 90 showing desired aircraft velocity vector, and a speed reticle 94. As set forth below, these reticles provide the capability to fly the aircraft using slope (path) guidance instead of pitch, in the same manner as conventional HUD symbology. Referring to the drawing of FIG. 4, a flight director reticle 90, which is computed by the autopilot function of computer 63 and can be displayed on PFD 16, 22 and on the HUD 32, is a representation of the path desired aircraft velocity vector, that is, the desired flight path angle, as calculated by the autopilot to achieve the desired aircraft trajectory, or slope. As shown in more detail in FIG. 6, reticle 9 consists of two reticles, each one made of a pair of quarter-circles. One reticle is devoted to the vertical guidance and the other one to the horizontal guidance. Those are always displayed magenta. FPA reticle 84 must be set within the quarter- circles for the guidance to be followed correctly. Reticle 90 Communications Transceivers 40 is always displayed if the AP is coupled or if a higher mode of the AP is selected and is active. The shape of flight director reticle 90 is identical in both PFD 16, 22 and HUD 32. Two VHF radio transceivers are provided, COMl and COM2, in addition to the HF radio transceivers. Additional VHF transceivers may be provided. These transceivers (not shown) can be tuned manually, or can be tuned by "pointing and clicking" with trackball 44 on a frequency in a digital 45 map displayed on the MFD or the PFD. A radar transponder is also provided. It is used to amplify and encode a signal returned to a ground-based radar, so that the ground controller can identify the radar return from a code issued to the pilot and entered in the transponder. The 50 altitude of the aircraft is also sent back to the radar, to facilitate aircraft separation. Flight path angle (FPA) FPA reticle 84 consists of stylized aircraft symbol which shows the slope of the current path of the inertial velocity vector of the aircraft, as supplied by the inertial reference system (IRS). Lateral deviation of this reticle due to slip-skid or to drift is neither computed nor displayed in this reticle. To maintain coordinated flight by adjusting the slip angle ~ to zero manually with rudder control, a classical slip-skid indicator (not shown) remains available at the top of AD .I. Satellite communication (SATCOM) may also provided, to permit telephone, fax, and other types of data transfer from and to the aircraft, by way of orbiting satellites. Display Screens Acceleration reticle 86 consists of a chevron ">" which moves vertically on an imaginary line running from top to 55 bottom of ADI 72. It provides an analog indication of acceleration rate along the flight path. PFD Speed reticle 94 provides speed guidance during flight phases such as the approach. It consists of a bracket on the left of FPA reticle 84. To hold the desired speed, the pilot 60 aligns the FPA reticle 84 with bracket 94. The difference in vertical position of reticle 94, above or below reticle 84, indicates the error between current speed and desired speed, as specified by the FMS. In addition, alignment of longitu- dinal acceleration chevron 86 with reticle 84 and 94 ensure Most of the information provided to the pilots in flight deck 10 is displayed on PFDs 16, 22 and MFDs 18, 20. Each PFD is driven by a graphical driver and processing module located in MAU 65a. Preferably, it encompasses at least a 6x8 inch color liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. As shown in FIG. 3, each PFD principally displays an attitude direction indicator (ADI) 72 in the rniddle part of the screen and horizontal situation indicator (HSI) 74 in the lower part. 65 Basic engine parameters are also displayed in an engine area 76 (upper portion) in case of a MFD failure. that the speed will remain constant. Of course, the required speed depends on aircraft's configuration, and will be manu- ally set by pilot using the autothrottle (AT). The pilot can 6,112,141 9 refer to parameters computed by the FMS to compute a required landing speed (Vref), given the approach slope, aircraft weight, temperature on ground, and flaps configu- ration. A corresponding cyan colored bug (marker) 96 is displayed on an air speed indicator tape 98 (FIG. 3). The pilot simply selects the desired speed value on AT control 23, 24, and the system will provide him with the corresponding bracket 94 in ADI display 72. 10 eating the radio navigation aid represented by each needle, a label indicating which of MAG(fRU references is used, desired track or preselected track symbol when the AP is in the corresponding mode, and current track. The "right window" 74c of HSI 74 provides: air data computer (ADC) information, including TAS, TAT, SAT, ISA and GS; weights, including GO, FR and QTY; wind direction and velocity; and landing runway elevation, which starts flashing when passing TOD to remind the pilot to HSI 74 (FIG. 3) displays short-range navigation informa- tion in the lower portion of PFD 16, 22. It is divided in three areas, which are a "left window" 74a, a "pure horizontal situation" 74b, and a "right window" 74c. The "left window" provides FMS navigation information which can be displayed in two different formats. First is a "TO-DEST" format, shown in FIG. 3, displaying a "TO" waypoint with its name, distance and time to go to next waypoint, plus "DEST" airport with name, distance and ETA Second is a FROM(fO/NEXT format displaying the name of these three points plus the time of overflight of the "FROM" waypoint and the expected arrival time at the "TO" waypoint. The pilot can toggle between both formats using the "NAY DATA" push-button 82a at the bottom of PFD. 10 check the pressurization system. Power-up value of landing runway elevation is 0 (sea level), but the pilot can modify it. If the pilot does not modify the zero value when passing to within 30 Nm of the destination airport, the value of the destination airport runway elevation from the stored data 15 base is automatically displayed and flashes for 10 seconds. The pilot can subsequently modify this value. All information in this window is permanent, except landing elevation which is displayed only once when manu- ally entered, or when a destination airfield is selected and the 20 aircraft is less than 200 miles from the destination. TI1e "left window" also provides the present tin1e, in magenta, and a chronometer with analog and digital values, only used to compute elapsed time. A first push on the "ET" 25 push-button 82b makes the chronometer appear and start from zero. A second push stops it. A third push restarts it from zero. The "pure horizontal situation" area 74b is located at the center of HSI 74 and can be displayed in three different 30 formats. FIG. 3 shows the first format, which is a "full rose" format (conventional HSI symbology) displaying a full 360 degree compass rose centered on an aircraft symbol. On request, bearings to selected points can be displayed in the rose. FMS or ILS Course/deviation is always displayed as a 35 bug 101 while in this format. The ILS course deviation is displayed when a precision approach is selected on the AP controller, or when an ILS frequency and course are manu- ally tuned. ILS course deviation can also be automatically selected when passing within 30 miles of the initial approach 40 fix (IAF). The second HSI format is an "arc" format, which displays a ±60 degrees sector in front of the aircraft and is shown in FIG. 5. This format provides the position of waypoints that are inside the selected range-scale entered with rotary knob 45 78 at the planned path of the FMS flight plan. FMS bearing and course deviation are always displayed in this format. Area 74b will display the full Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) format (FIG. 7) either automatically in case of traffic alert or by pressing the "TCAS" push-button 82d. 50 The TCAS display is a full 360 degree rose centered on the aircraft. The range of the TCAS display can be adjusted using the rotary knob 78 on the left bottom of PFD 16, 22. MFD In prior art flight decks, the aircraft crew was required to n1anage the flight and perforn1 path n1odification by using the control and display unit (CDU) of the FMS, which involved manually typing in desired waypoints and other data. This was a boring, fastidious task, which could affect safety in unpredictable ways, to the point that some aircraft operators prohibited the use of the CDU below an altitude of 10,000 ft. (FLlOO). To remedy this problem, a method to manage the FMS functions by using the MFD has been developed, eliminating the previously existing CDU on the flight management system unit. The MFDs 18, 20 are truly the "workstations" of the flight deck. They are used for managing the flight, carrying out flight path modification, and checking aircraft systems and sensors availability. The corresponding procedures involve the intensive use of track-ball 44 controlling a cursor of MFDs 18, 20 and, in a less important manner, use of keyboards 34. Alternatively, the functions of keyboards 34 may be replaced by a direct voice input, and the function of the trackball could be performed by other cursor control devices, such as a touch-panel. An important aspect of the design of MFDs 18, 20 is the ability for each pilot to access both the right MFD 20 and the left MFD 18 from each seat, using a distinctive cursor, as shown in FIG. 8. However, both MFDs provide the same options and are coupled to synchronized FMS processors. Both MFDs are synchronized so that, for example, when the captain is working on an enroute high altitude chart on MFD 18, the first officer can work on the same chart in his own MFD 20, using a different range scale or type of format. However, the pilots can also work together on the same page, on the same MFD, each one using his own trackball 44, to move his own cursor, and his own keyboard 34. The A second pressing of the "TCAS" push-button 82d of the PFD calls back the previous HSI format. VOR and ADF bearings can be displayed on the PFD in addition to the bearing indication of the FMS, as a backup. Both pilots can access the VOR, DME, and ADF. 55 principal constraint to joint access of the MFD is that once a modification has been initiated using one cursor, it must be finished with that same cursor. Access to each MFD 18,20 is implemented by a "cursor skip" function, which selectively permits each cursor to move about each MFD. In the preferred embodiment, the cursor skip function is selectively implemented by trackball velocity. For example, if the captain slowly operates his trackball 44 to move his cursor to the right, the cursor will ILS approaches and differential global positioning system (D-GPS) are some of the approach options of the FMS 60 functions of computer 63. Both are automatically set up by computer 63 without requiring pilot entry of frequencies, except in abnormal operations, when it is possible to manu- ally tune an ILS frequency and course by using the tv1FCU. stop at the right edge of tv1FD 18 to prevent inadvertently 65 "skipping" to MFD 20. Subsequent slow movement of the trackball to the right will not result in further movement of the cursor. However, rapid operation of the captain's track- In addition, the pure horizontal situation area 74b of HSI 74 displays the following information: distances to DME 1 & 2 with name of these radio navigation aids, labels indi- 6,112,141 11 ball to the right will cause the captain's cursor to "skip over" to MFD 20. The captain can then use his cursor and related buttons to implement any feature available on right-hand MFD 20. Similarly, the first officer can selectively move his cursor to left-hand MFD 18. The cursor skip function could, of course, be implemented using a selector other than trackball speed. For example, a dedicated push button could be provided, operation of which would be required to permit "cursor skip" to the other MFD. Moreover, the cursor skip function could be implemented over more than two fiat panel displays. 12 To "select" the captured point, the action button 48 of the track-ball is operated. This causes data stored for this point in system memory to appear as an information window displayed at the place of the cursor. From this moment, the pilot can begin a modification of a parameter displayed in the window, using the keyboard, for instance. It is also possible to designate soft keys and labels, which will cause the corresponding function or option to be selected. Which parameters are displayed for the point depends on 10 the category of the symbol corresponding to the designated point. The category of the symbol itself depends on the background of the displayed chart, but not on the magnifi- cation. A first click on the symbol displays a window beside The following functions are redundantly included in both screens to permit a flight to depart even if one MFD is inoperable: display engine parameters and warning/caution messages; display all aircraft electrical, fuel, air 15 conditioning, hydraulics systems; display horizontal situa- tion and vertical profile; manage FMS and AFIS; manage normal and abnormal check-lists; and display general main- tenance items in flight that can be easily understood by the crew. it. A second one outside this window erases it. There is no priority given to either pilot in using either MFD. Each pilot can work with his cursor on both MFD, and both pilots can also work together on the same MFD, or on the same function on different MFD. In this latter case, the system takes into account the chronological order of actions. 20 There is only one exception: If one pilot has already begun a modification, the other pilot cannot interfere on this parameter as long as the procedure is not terminated. But the second pilot can fill another parameter on the same MFD. Hence, it is possible to get both cursors on the same display. The functions of the MFD are founded on the basic idea of displaying desired portions of at least two data bases stored in tv1AU 65d (FIG. 2), highlighting (or "capturing") specific features of the displayed data with the cursor, and "selecting" the captured features to permit modification of the displayed feature or storing into a flight plan. The first data base is a geographic map data base which provides basic geographic features of a standard paper map, or chart, including terrain elevation. This database, which may be the same as utilized in the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS), is stored in a first portion of system memory. The EGPWS database is commercially available from the Sundstrand Corporation. The second database is an aeronautical information database, which includes a complete list of available navi- gation aids such as VOR, GPS, ILS, MLS, ADF, as well as airports, airways, intersections, reporting points, etc. The aeronautical information database includes locations and frequencies of each navaid. It is obtained from standard sources such as Jeppesen Publications, and is stored in a second portion of system memory. The background or default image of the MFD is the horizontal situation, consisting of the superposition of data from the aeronautical information database (such as navaid location) on geographic map data, such as water land/ boundaries. However, the MFD can display several function pages thanks to a menu driven system. The surface of the screen is divided into six windows of% the total screen size. The different windows displayed will encompass a total size that is a multiple of% the available surface, i.e. %, 1/3, Yi, 2/3, 516 and 1 times the available surface. The horizontal situation is displayed on the part of the screen unused by the window (s) requested by the pilot. Furthermore, one MFD 16,18 includes a permanent ENGINE/TRIMS display 120 which continuously occupies the top % as shown in FIG. 9. 25 The cursors for each pilot are graphically different, as shown in FIG. 8. Both cursors have the same size, but the angle between the cursor legs is different so as to be able to differentiate them even when superimposed. 30 MFDs have provisions to let the pilots modify selected parameters displayed as a window. A small triangle is displayed in front of each parameter that is likely to be modified. When the cursor captures one of these parameters, its background becomes brown and a modification can take 35 place by entering the new value with the keyboard. While being modified, the parameter is displayed cyan with cyan framing. When the modification is completed, the pilot to presses the "ENT" key, or clicks the button of the trackball. If the pilot presses "ENT" or clicks without entering data, 40 the cursor automatically skips to the following parameter. It is possible to exit the modification process by double- clicking the button of the track-ball, so that the system returns to the previous status. The main menu 122 of the MFD can be accessed directly 45 by using devoted push-button 52 located on the trackball (FIG. 1) to directly call up the main menu of the MFD, as shown in FIG. 9. The main menu 122 includes a plurality of entries. Clicking on one of these entries displays the corre- sponding page on the MFD. The system always accepts the 50 last pilot choice and erases all that is necessary so as to be able to display the requested page. Some windows such as engine performance, or the checklist, are not erased. The erasures are first carried out at the bottom of the MFD. If two aircraft systems pages are requested, the horizontal situation 55 indicator is no longer displayed on the MFD, for lack of sufficient room. The trackballs 44 and switches 48, 50, 52 are the main means to operate the MFD. Operation of the cursor involves the actions of cursor "capture" and "selection", commonly known in the personal computer world as "point and click." For example, when the pilot is interacting with the HSI, the 60 cursor is movably superimposed upon points on the map by action of the trackball. Certain of these points on the map constitute special positions recognized by the system: The main menu of FIG. 9 has four columns. The first column provides access to FMS management pages. The second column includes mainly aircraft systems windows. The third column controls the display of sensors data, for example, selection of a weather radar image to be superim- posed on the horizontal situation display. The fourth column controls access to various charts and maps, which in current Rt~AV points, routes, airports, and so on. When the cursor is superimposed upon such points, the point is "captured", that is, the background around the captured point becomes brown, and the cursor is displayed behind this background. aircraft are usually provided on paper, such as by Jeppesen 65 publications. A description of some of the entries of the Main Menu is set forth below. 6,112,141 13 First Column: This column mainly includes Flight Management System pages. These pages allow the pilot to perform the following procedures: Initialization 14 following legs are erased. Finally, "CLEAR" and "COM- PUTE" soft keys are displayed under the log. "CLEAR" allows the pilot to clear the modification and go back to previous status. "COMPUTE" re-starts a computation of predictions regarding the new assessments, respecting the eventual mandatory times. As soon as new predictions are displayed, the "COMPUTE" soft key is removed and an "ACTIVATE" one is displayed. Pressing this key activates the new values of FL, ALT and M/IAS in the vertical flight This page is selected by the "INIT" label in the main menu. As shown in FIG. 10 it encompasses the entire screen, except the area occupied by the permanent engine/trim window. It consists of one window with dates and times and of the airport chart. This latter is initially displayed in a 1 NM range-scale, north oriented. It lets the pilots check and 10 plan. The page also provides the following keys: set current date and time and the database's effective date, check position on the aircraft on apron and the FMS refer- ence position, load contents of CD-ROM to update the database if necessary, and tune the MFCUs on airport 15 frequencies by clicking first the desired station frequency and then the "TUNE 1" or "TUNE2" softkey. The NAVLOG page (FIG. 11) provides all information necessary for fuel and time management, including: Check mission preparation Generate reminders of flight conditions, planned fuel consumption and flight time for each leg Automatic updating of these values according to current conditions 20 25 Carry out a "what-if": asking the system to display the consequences of changing one or several flight condi- tions. Make research of optimal flight conditions This page lets the pilots modify the NAY LOG manually, 30 only for the vertical plane. The window size is the same as for the FLT PLAN window. It further provides the usual navigation log with a list of navigation legs for which are given the following parameters: PRINT FLT PLAN (to return to FLT PLAN page if one comes from it) Scroll-up and down keys, so as to scroll the entire LOG. The scroll soft keys are displayed only if the number of waypoints is too large to fit on one screen. The current leg is initially shown at the top of the LOG, so long as pilot has not made any scroll. If the pilot does scroll, he will have to reset back the highlight to the desired leg because this is not automatically carried out. Note that if any SID, STAR or APP has been activated, all corresponding waypoints are displayed in the log. The pilots can optimize the flight conditions by using the lower part of the page. The pilot chooses ISA DEV (initialized to the planned value on the leg which is dis- played in the LOG); Mach number by using the LRC or MCRU soft key, or by inserting a value manually; and flight level with OPT or MAX or CRT soft keys, or by inserting a value manually. As soon as Mach number and FL are chosen, the corre- sponding flight parameters (mach, FL, TAS, Nm/Lb.) are displayed based on the present weight, and are permanently updated even if NAY LOG page is deselected and reselected "To" waypoint with its name Required flight level or altitude on the leg Required Mach and TAS on the leg Wind component on the leg (plus if back) and delta with ISA temperature on the leg 35 later. Then, a "N LOG" key appears which allows crew to accept the computed values and transfer the data to the FMS. In addition, an optimization for the following legs is carried out, according to the chosen criteria. During computation, relevant parameters are erased. They are re-displayed cyan Distance and distr (total distance of leg and remaining distance after this leg) 40 at the end of computation. The "CLEAR" and "ACTIVATE" keys are displayed so as to allow return to previous status or confirm computed values. Second Column Time on the leg (ETE, in hours and minutes) and true track Fuel used on the leg and fuel remaining on the last waypoint of leg (in Lb.) The second column of menu 122 allows access to engine 45 and mechanical systems pages, clicking on ENG/CONF; FUEL/ENV; HYDRAULICS; ELECTRIC:NAV DATA: FF on the leg and DFR (delta fuel remaining, i.e. differ- ence between FR planned in mission preparation and currently computed FR. This item is not filled if flight path has been modified.) Flight time (time that has been done when reaching the waypoint) and ETA on this waypoint. The NAY DATA window (FIG. 12) consists of an extract of NAY LOG providing only a few lines of TO/NEXT legs, and provides the amount of fuel remaining, the difference 50 with fuel predicted in mission preparation, and TTG and ETA on DEST. No modification can be carried out. Note that all planned values (ETE, FU, FR, FF, ll_FR, FT, ETA) are continuously updated by the FMS computer 63 regarding: current weight, detotalizer values, position on the 55 path, current FL and Mach number, current wind and tem- perature. When the aircraft reaches the end of the leg, all parameters of the leg are set either to the average value computed for the leg (FL/ALT, M/IAS, WD COMP, ISA DEV, ETE, FU, FF) or to the actual value when passing over 60 the waypoint at the end of the leg ( FR, ll_FR, FT, ETA). If any modification of FL/ALT or M/IAS or WD COMP or ISA DEV occurs, the modified value is instantaneously passed on to following legs for which the sarne value of FL/ALT or M/IAS was planned. No automatic pass occurs 65 for WD COMP or TEMP. All predicted parameters (ETE, FU, FR, FF, ll_FR, FT, ETA) of the relevant leg and of the Sensors This page (FIG. 24) displays navigation sensors modes and current status, with their estimated localization error, given in bearing and range from FMS reference position. It includes two series of four columns. For each series, the columns include: First Column: Selecting keys for each sensor, with name of sensor. They are not displayed if the sensor has failed. They are white framed if not selected, green framed green if selected. Second Column: Status or Mode Indications: TDC. l\.T A"\.T AT T~l\.T C'UV ,...,.. ... DATT .l.l'->J• l'lr-\..V, r-1L.1Ul'I, >JLJ.l Ul .l'r-\...lL GPS: RAIM, 4 SAT, ACQ or FAIL To discover an anomalous condition of a satellite, the RAIM concept provides use of redundant satellite 6,112,141 15 data to generate reliable position information even if one received satellite signal is incorrect. It requires at least 5 satellites to be tracked simultaneously with good geometry. Six satellites simultaneously tracked can isolate the anomalous satellite. The RAIM status indicated in the sensors page is related to a 5 satel- lites status (without baroalt) that is planned to be kept at least for five minutes. 4 SAT is displayed while acquiring GPS constellation or while not able to track at least four satellites. ACQ is displayed while acquiring GPS constellation or while unable to track at least four satellites. VOR: NAME OF STATION, FAIL DME: NAME OF STATION, FAIL Dashes are displayed when NCD, and these labels have the same color as sensor's name. Third Column: Localization error given in bearing and range from FMS reference position. Fourth Column: For each sensor, a "MORE " soft key allows pilot to get more information by calling up an additional page which displays: Name of sensor sensor status position localization in geographic coordinates value of ground speed supplied by this sensor and estimated drift of the sensor Third Column (Main Menu, FIG. 9): This column of MAIN MENU entries includes sensor information related to the horizontal situation. Weather: This entry allows selection of weather radar image for display on the MFD. It is superimposed on the current horizontal situation indicator, in whatever the format (track or north oriented) the latter might be. Radar is managed using the MFCU to select the desired elevation and mode. TCAS: 16 10° climb. This pull up must begin (at the latest) between 3 and 15 seconds after the warning is received. Continuous red sectors: terrain that can no longer be avoided by performing a pull up, avoidance must be achieved by changing course laterally. The two first formats (amber and flashing red points) can be superimposed on the rest of the symbology, including weather-radar image. The third one has priority over others. GCAS is inhibited when aircraft is within a range of 2 NM to destination airport. A red warning will be displayed on 10 PFD (and in HUD) if a red area appears in the ±45° azimuth sector in front of the aircraft. LSS The lightning sensor system CLSS of the weather radar provides location of detected lightning areas. For each one, 15 a small red symbol will be displayed in the horizontal situation indicator. W/CNTR: This weather and control area window provides the crew with the location of both the weather forecast and the control 20 areas symbols on the MFD. With the former, pilots can get access to a window giving the name and frequencies of VOLMET stations. (These are indicated by a circled "W" syn1bol, colored purple). The latter provides then1 with control areas on the different charts likely to be displayed on 25 the MFD. These are indicated by a circled "C" symbol, colored purple. Clicking on it displays the corresponding window that gives the name of the station, used frequencies and any relevant information. 30 GEO This entry is actually a soft key that controls display/ erasure of geographical information on the chart currently displayed on the MFD. This information consists of sea- ocean, lakes and main rivers. These geographical elements are colored dark blue. Earth regions are uncolored and hence 35 shores clearly appear at the limit of earth/water. Airports: This soft key controls display/erasure of airports symbols on the currently displayed chart. Airways: This soft key controls display/erasure of airways symbols on the currently displayed chart. Fourth Column: This column of Main Menu entries provides display of maps and charts (occupying 516 of the screen) with vertical The traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) 40 provides location of traffic approaching the aircraft too closely and displays corresponding symbols on PFD and MFD, with digital indication of their level and their vertical velocity (only up or down and only if greater than 500 ft/mn). These symbols can be displayed in any one of the charts of horizontal and vertical situation. In addition, a "full TCAS" symbology can be displayed in the PFD, by pressing the TCAS push-button of PFD or automatically in case a serious threat occurs. 45 profile (occupying Y4 of the screen, that can be automatically compressed to % ) usually provided by Jeppesen publications, with the current location of the aircraft repre- sented by an aircraft symbol similar to the symbol on the PFD. For all these charts, the bearings and radials are with GCAS: GCAS (Ground Collision Avoidance System) is actually a software function and not a sensor. It does not use any radar functionality such as ground mapping. Instead, it derives the potential ground collisions that could occur from the built-in terrain database and from the knowledge of the accurate aircraft position. To achieve this, the system com- pares future possible paths with the elevation of ground that could be overflown. It provides the profile of terrain that is planned to be overflown (up to 2 minutes) in the vertical situation page and highlights dangerous areas on the hori- zontal situation chart, according to the following rules: Amber points: terrain which is less than 100 meters below the current path, assuming that slope will remain unchanged. 50 respect to magnetic or true north, according to the MAG/ TRU selection; enroute distances are in nautical miles; vertical measurements of elevation are in feet above mean sea level; enroute altitudes are either in feet above mean sea level or clearly expressed as flight levels. All times are UTC 55 unless labeled local time. These charts can be displayed in two different formats, map and plan (also known respec- tively as "heading up" and "north up"), and are centered on aircraft position. This rule is always true in "heading up" format and in "north up" without flight plan. While in "north 60 up" format with flight plan, the chart is centered on a "TO" waypoint. In map format (heading or track oriented), a heading rose Flashing red points: terrain that aircraft can still avoid 65 with a vertical margin of 100 meters at least, if pilots performs a full-power pull up at 1.3 G followed by a provides a cyan bug (steering course) and the corresponding cyan line that joins aircraft syrnbol and bug. It also includes a circle located at half-range, with the digital value of the corresponding range-scale. Both circle and rose are centered on the aircraft symbol. 6,112,141 17 In plan format (north oriented), two circles centered on a reference point (default point is the "TO" waypoint) are displayed. Therefore, while using certain range-scales, air- craft symbol can be hidden. The central circle includes range-scale value and right-left 45° tick marks. For these two formats, a magenta line showing the pre- dictive path up to one minute in the future, computed from present speed and bank angle, will be displayed in front of the aircraft symbol. As shown in FIGS. 13-16, MFD 18,20 can display an 10 Airport map, a SID chart, an enroute low altitude chart, and an enroute high altitude chart. Other displayable charts include STAR and approach charts. Each of these charts can be displayed with a vertical profile. For both map and plan formats, a magenta predictive path is displayed in front of 15 the aircraft symbol, indicating the expected path up to one minute in the future, computed from present speed and bank angle. Computer 63 responds to operation of trackball 44 to highlight a waypoint indication when the cursor coincides with the waypoint indication on the vertical profile and 20 simultaneously highlights the corresponding indication of the waypoint on the horizontal situation display. FIG. 13 shows an available airport n1ap, sin1ilar to the standard Jeppesen airport diagram. It includes a window 536 with the name of the airport, and country and name of the 25 closest city; a window 538 with radio frequencies, including ATIS, clearance delivery, ground, tower and departure fre- quencies; and an airport map 540 containing ground facilities, terminals, control tower, runways, taxiways, aprons and stands, elevation of particular points on and 30 around the airfield. Additional information related to any particular point, like a runway or parking stand of the airport, can be displayed by designating the point with the cursor. The information will be displayed in a special window in place of the cursor. This page is automatically 35 displayed on MFD 18,20 in a 1 NM range-scale, north- oriented, at initialization as shown in FIG. 10. The standard instrument departure (SID) chart is shown in FIG. 14. This chart displays the standard instrument depar- ture data for the selected SID procedure. It includes a 40 window 584 containing name of procedure and name of the corresponding airport; and a window 542 containing the chart that displays runways, radio navigation aids related to the procedure, radials defining the SID path, FMS waypoints and planned path. The default range-scale for this chart is 5 45 NM, centered on the departure airport. No accurate vertical profiles are published in traditional SIDs. Instead, vertical information is generally limited to mandatory altitudes over particular points. In the present invention, however, altitude information is obtained from the terrain database, and is 50 used by the FMS computer 63 to supply the vertical profile that can be displayed in the vertical profile page. Enroute low altitude charts can also be displayed on MFD 18,20. These navigation charts are for routes located up to flight level 190 (FL 190). They include airways, waypoints, 55 report points, R-NAV aids, airports (without any name) and limits of control and forecasting areas. For all these symbols, a window can provide additional information. This content varies according to the selected range-scale. Moreover, selected portions of the map database can be simultaneously 60 displayed as a visible map display with portions of the aeronautical information database as navigation aid indica- tors such that the geographic locations of navigation aid indicators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display. 65 Portions of the display device can then be designated as a control active region, such that computer 63 responds to 18 operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to retrieve and display database parameters of the highlighted navigation aid indicators from the aeronau- tical information database. Enroute high altitude charts, shown on MFD 18,20 of FIG. 15, can be displayed, and provide the same information as low altitude enroute charts, for routes located above FL 190. FIG. 15 shows an enroute high altitude chart 545 and a vertical profile 546 for the route selected. Another displayable chart is the "STAR" chart. This chart provides the standard terminal arrival route which has been selected in the FLIGHT PLAN page, to be described below. It includes required path, corresponding waypoints and references such as radials of other waypoints when those radials define the path. Finally, approach charts can be displayed on MFD 18,20. These charts provide approach procedures which are chosen in the ARRIVAL page, to be described below. The charts include all the information usually provided in the paper Jeppesen approach charts. The approach can belong to one of the following categories: VOR, VOR/DME, LOC, ILS, ILS/LOC, ILS/DME, MLS, NDB, NDBNOR, RADAR, GPS, D~GPS, or VFR. The VFR approach, though it is usually not published in IFR documentation, is often carried out when VMC (visual meteorological conditions) exist. It consists of two phases. First, from the end of enroute flight plan or STAR, the aircraft rejoins a point located on runway axis at 4.55 NM from runway threshold and 1500 ft above ground. This point is known as VFR FAF. Secondly, the aircraft rejoins a point located at 50 ft above runway threshold, with a slope of 3° (5%) with DTK=RTH. The autopilot can follow this procedure in LNAV and VNAV modes. Radius of alignment turn will be computed for a ground speed value of 150 Kts. The corresponding go around (GIA) procedure consists of a climb on the runway axis up to pilot's intervention. Note that it is possible to cross ASEL in descent after passing VFR FAF, without any audio alarm, just like for other approaches. ASEL remains dis- played in cyan when passing VFR FAF. A vertical profile can be displayed on MFD 18,20 using the "VER PROF" label in the main menu 522 (FIG. 9), but under the condition that at least 1/3 of screen size remains available to show the horizontal situation. The vertical profile is located at the bottom of the MFD, in a Y4 screen size format that can be reduced to % screen. As displayed in window 546 of FIG. 15, the vertical profile includes: Aircraft symbol, always at the extreme left, with 5 sec- onds in a continuous line, plus an extrapolated path of up to 30 seconds shown as a magenta discontinuous line. Current vertical flight plan if VNAV mode is selected or can be selected on AP. A vertical flight plan must be filed and the aircraft must not be too far from horizontal flight plan (in distance and track). Note that the path displayed herein is only made of lines without any circle-arcs. Names of waypoints, altitude and slope constraints are always displayed. Current slope. AP slope when in basic mode on vertical plane. ASEL, indicated by a cyan horizontal line and the corre- sponding digital value, or a cyan arrow giving its direction (up only) if it is out of field. Marks corresponding to 0.5 and 1 times the range scale of r-v1FD. Profile of terrain which is likely to be overflown, if GCAS is selected, up to 2 minutes in the future, extrapolated from present flight parameters. 6,112,141 19 The vertical range-scale is automatically set, while the horizontal range-scale depends on the range of the currently displayed horizontal situation. The former is automatically computed so as to display zero altitude at the bottom of the profile and the highest of the following points at the top of the profile: Aircraft symbol; Highest part of displayed por- tion of current vertical flight plan; ASEL (if vertical flight plan is not displayed); 2000 ft altitude. (To avoid a too large a scale when aircraft is close to the ground.) In the vertical profile, the cursor can capture waypoints 10 and altitude constraint readouts. Several controls are available for charts management. These include range-zoom rotary knobs 544 on MFD 18,20 and an off center push-button 48 located on track-balls 44, (FIG. 1). The range-zoom rotary knob includes two knobs. 15 With the outer one, the pilot can adjust the range-scale up to 4000 NM. 600, 1000, 2000 and 4000 NM range scales are also available. The inner knob allows adjustment of zoom. The range-zoom rotary knob is also fitted with a push- button. Pressing it causes the currently displayed chart to 20 toggle between map and plan options. The plan (heading up) option is available only if the currently displayed chart is the "systen1 chart" (i.e., the chart of the current flight phase) or "enroute chart". When the range-zoom scale is toggled, current range- 25 scale is kept and the chart is centered on the aircraft. Thus, 20 heading up) and centering remain identical to the value they had at the last call-up (or default values if it is the first selecting). When the pilot requests a chart that is not the system chart, it will always be displayed in "north up" format. When an airport chart is manually called up, it is displayed north-up oriented with a range-scale such that it encompasses the whole airport. If destination airport exists, this chart consists of the destination airport chart, if not, the closest airport chart shall be displayed. When a SID, STAR, or APPROACH chart is manually called up (assuming that the corresponding procedure is defined and activated), the chart is displayed north oriented with a range scale and centering such that the format encompasses the whole procedure. If no procedure has been activated, only the upper window of the chart, including the name of the airport is displayed. This name consists either of the destination airport if known, or of the closest airport if not. A pilot can display the chart of any SID, STAR, or approach different from the activated one (but still corre- sponding to the same airport) by replacing the procedure name 543 (FIG. 14) with the name of the desired new procedure. If a chart of a procedure of another airport is desired, the same actions are performed but the name of corresponding airport must also be entered. In this latter case, the path of the procedure will be displayed magenta in both the PFD and MFD. When enroute charts are manually called up (assuming that the corresponding flight plan is defined and activated), they are displayed north-oriented with a range scale and a double pressing performed on this knob while in map (north up) setting of the system or enroute charts centers the format back on the aircraft without any range-scale or chart change. 30 centering such that the format encompasses the whole flight plan. In case no flight plan should be defined, the chart is displayed in a 50 NM range-scale, north-oriented and aircraft-centered. For each of the charts, range/zoom controls can specify a desired discrete map scale for display on the display device. Moreover, the data items of the map and aeronautical information databases are each classified as one of a plu- rality of priority levels each corresponding to a different map 35 scale. The flight computer responds to operation of range- zoom rotary knob 544 to display the map and aeronautical information databases at the desired scale and perform a de-clutter function to display only those data items corre- sponding to the desired scale. In contrast, computer 63 40 responds to the operation of the inner knob 544 to provide a continuously variable range scale adjustment without de-clutter, thus continuing to display all data items that were displayed prior to the zoom operation. Also available for each chart, except the system chart, is 45 a fast-deselecting soft-key. It consists of a little white square with a white cross inside. This key is situated at the top right of the chart and enables the pilot to erase the chart by clicking on it. Each time a chart is deselected this way, the system chart will replace it. In addition to the deselect key, 50 some charts are fitted with a key that enables the pilot to directly go back to the previous chart. This kind of key is always located at the top right of the chart and it contains the name of the chart to which it provides access. All the charts provide the capability to select displayed frequencies. Clicking one of the frequencies in the map displays the TUNE 1 and TUNE 2 soft keys. Clicking on one of these keys, e.g., TUNE 1, assigns the selected frequency to the chosen radio unit, e.g. COM 1. Several miscellaneous windows are available for use with the MFD charts. To display these windows, pilot selects the particular point of interest with the cursor. The correspond- ing window appears at the place of cursor. Its size depends on the number of parameters related to the point of interest. Some of these windows includes labels that allows access to sub-windows. The pilot can click on them to cause sub- windows to appear. The following list gives all the special points which allow access to additional information win- dows. All types of waypoints (Published waypoints of any chart, FMS waypoints (i.e. TOD & TOC), pilot-built waypoints, radio reporting points.); RNAV aids (VOR, DME, ADF, NDB, TACAN, LOC, markers, D-GPS.); runways (when !LS-fitted, both runway and ILS infor- mation will be merged in a single window, allowing access to two different sub-windows.); airport reference points; control towers; stands; taxiways; parking & aprons; airways; holding patterns; control areas; fore- casting areas; airports; waypoints of current navigation; legs of current navigation or airways; aircraft; TOC/ TOD. Note that the only symbols that can be consulted on a vertical profile are waypoints, and in this particular case just the slope constraint will be displayed. Direct access keys to other charts or pages are also 55 available for some MFD display pages. These keys have no fixed location, but rather are situated at the location where they might be needed. The label of these keys is not necessarily the name of the chart that it calls up, but has been chosen so as to mean something very specific in the pilot's 60 mind. The pages having this feature are: the FLT PLN page, the ARRIVAL page, the SENSOR page, the INIT page, and the FPL LIST page. The charts can be manually centered with off center button 48 on track-balls 44, 46. This button centers the chart on the current position of cursor. The information provided for the various points is as 65 follows: If the selected chart is the "system chart", that is, the chart covering the current flight phase, the format (north or NAY AID: Provided information consists of: Name of station, Category (VOR, DME . . . ), Class (high 6,112,141 21 altitude, low altitude, terminal, unrestricted) or ILS category (I, II, III, IIIA), Frequency, Corresponding Morse code, Coordinates (L,G). In addition, if the point consists of a VOR or an ADF, two soft keys "TUNE 1" and "TUNE 2" allow pilot to tune radios and hence to get the bearing to this station. 22 points. In case this list becomes too long, two <> keys will be displayed at the bottom right of the list. Throughout this list, crew can also call up and use the window related to each waypoint, by clicking on the name of the waypoint in the list, even if this waypoint is not currently displayed on the chart. In addition, all usual actions that are available for the manual flight plan chart remain available for the waypoint list. It includes modifi- cation of desired speed and altitudes, addition of a waypoint 10 in the list, removal or change of a waypoint. Check-List The check list management system provides access to the AIRPORT: Consultation of any airport symbol displays a window with a single key that allows access to the corresponding Jeppesen chart and aids for approach (ILS, ... ). Cursor is automatically displayed on a "RETURN" soft key so as to allow pilot to return to the navigation chart. Thus, it is possible to consult any of the airport's charts, under the condition that its symbol is displayed on the screen. 15 Note that airport charts can be directly accessed from multitude of status and operational procedures that must be managed to provide safe and efficient operation of the aircraft. The check lists are grouped by function into "chapters", "pages" within each chapter, and "instructions" "AIRPORT MAP" soft key in the main menu. RUNWAY: If the designated point is a runway threshold, the window gives the following information: Runway true heading, with an accuracy of 0.1 degrees; Mag- netic heading; Threshold elevation; Runway mean slope (average slope between both thresholds); runway length. WAYPOINT: (Flight plan waypoints) displayed informa- tion is: Name of point; Nature of point (NAVAID, AIRPORT, ... ); range; estimated altitude; estimated fuel on this point; E.T.A; Time constraint; track con- straint; Altitude constraint (AT, ABOVE, BELOW); Speed constraint; Slope constraint; Flyover constraint and/or HOLD (holding pattern); Offset. LEGS: (Flight plan's legs or airway outside flight plan) displayed information is: Name of airway; true track; Length; MSA (minimum safety altitude). AIRCRAFT: designation of aircraft takes a snapshot of present L/G coordinates and displays them in a win- dow. This one also includes useful parameters so as to define an immediate holding pattern, with an "ACTI- VATE" (or "DELETE") key, just like for a waypoint. within each page, and are stored in memory of MAU 65d. The chapters include: normal, abnormal, user, and emer- gency. The normal chapter is semi-automatic, it is displayed 20 on pilot's request by switch 38 but provides direct access to check lists pertinent to the current flight phase. The abnor- mal chapter is displayed on request but with direct access to the relevant page in case of a failure. The user chapter is on request only. The emergency chapter is automatically dis- 25 played when any failure occurs, but the pilot can also access it while in normal operations. The entire check list system is managed solely by using the special check list button switch 38 located on pedestal 14. The switch is a two-axis rocker switch with orthogonal 30 axes. Each axis has a pair of momentary contact side positions and a center return position. Switch 38 can thus be moved between four positions to access the check list function. The four positions of the switch are labeled UP/RCL, RTN, ON/ENTER, and DOWN/SKIP. Operation 35 of the switch positions cause computer 63 in MAU 65a to execute different functions depending on where in the check list menu it is activated. TOC/TOD: displayed information is: Range to this point; 40 TTG to this point; When the check list has not yet been requested, movement of switch 38 to the UP/RCL position calls back the last displayed page. Movement of switch 38 to the ON/ENTER position displays a "chapter" menu on MFD 16,18 which has WEATHER: It is always displayed on the screen. It provides access to VOLMET frequencies with capabil- ity to automatically tune MFCU on them ("TUNE 1" and "TUNE 2" softkeys). MEANINGLESS AREA: Any designation outside one of these special points displays a window with latitude/ longitude position of designated point. If one point has several functions (e.g. NAVAID located on an airport that belongs to flight plan), the system auto- matically proposes a menu to let pilot choose the category of information he wishes. Windows related to parking stands on an airport apron include special instructions for parking and all the informa- tion related to clearance deliveries, alignment, start up, push-back, tow-out, parking Waypoints List: When a flight plan has been built, a <> soft-key is available at the top left of each chart, as shown in FIG. 16, to let the pilot display the list of waypoints that define the flight plan, just beside the chart. Each waypoint is displayed with its name, desired altitude and speed. Refer- ring to FIG. 16, the list 550 is displayed on the left side of the chart 545, without covering the vertical profile 546, if displayed. As long as the flight goes on, this list is updated so as to always display the <> waypoint at the top, followed by the < runway length, both EFL & runway length are red). V1 (can be modified but must remain within aircraft's limitations) Vr (can be modified but must remain within aircraft's limitations) V2 (can be modified but must remain within aircraft's limitations) V FR (can be modified but must remain within aircraft's limitations) V FT (can be modified but must remain within aircraft's limitations) ACCELERATION AT 20 KTS ATTITUDE (required pitch for take-off) Nl REDUCED (for reduced power T/0) LOC TRACK (runway true heading in 1/w degree, it is displayed as soon as QFU is chosen) TOSA (displayed as soon as QFU is chosen) The computed value of "acceleration at 20 Kts" is known 36 as the SID is chosen, displays the SID on the horizontal situation indicator in map format, with an appropriate scale- range that offers a global vision of the SID, and a path which is displayed cyan if the SID is not activated, and green and yellow if it is activated. The SID is also displayed in the vertical profile. Once the SID is chosen, the pilot can directly call up the corresponding navigational chart on MFD 18,20 by clicking on the "SID MAP" key in main menu. The same information 10 is available for the airport map, which is called up by using "APT MAP" key. If a take off runway has not been selected, a special message "NO RUNWAY SELECTED FOR TIO" is displayed. If it is not possible to take-off because the runway is insufficiently long, or the obstacle is too high, a red boxed 15 "IMPOSSIBLE TAKE-OFF" appears instead of an ACTI- VATE label. The EFL, length, and maximum weight are displayed in red, until one of the input parameters is modi- fied. Once the flight plan is entered and the flight progresses, 20 flight computer 63 receives inputs from the GPS, IRS, and other navigation devices to establish current position of the aircraft in relation to flight phases of a stored flight plan. Moreover, computer 63 responds to transition of the aircraft from a position corresponding to one flight phase to a 25 position corresponding to another flight phase by automati- cally displaying map and aeronautical information database information corresponding to the new flight phase. Referring to the drawing ofMFD 18,20 shown in FIG. 23, an ARRIVAL page 600 of the flight management system can 30 be displayed using the "ARRIVAL" label in the main menu 122 of MFD 18,20. It is basically very similar in its design to FPL page 552 described above. Whereas FPL page 552 is basically used during initialization and at the beginning of a flight, the ARRIVAL page 600 is related to the last phases of 35 flight, including STAR (standard terminal arrival route), approach and landing. The format of this page consists of two parts. These are a runway and procedure part 602, at the top of the page, whereby one can choose the landing runway, the arrival procedure and the approach; and a performance 40 part 604, at the bottom of the page, whereby one can insert data for the computation of landing performance. as Jrefand causes the current value of acceleration in the ADI (attitude direction indicator) to be displayed in green or in flashing amber. The display will be in flashing amber if 45 acceleration is less than Jref' engine fan speed is greater than 80%, and ground speed is less than 40 Kts. Once this occurs, the display will remain flashing amber as long as engine fan speed is greater than 80%, and the wheels support the aircraft's weight. If the above conditions are not true, the 50 acceleration on the ADI will be displayed in green. Clicking Runway and procedure part 602 provides for: choice of the runway for the destination airport; choice of STAR; choice of transition; choice of approach with a default choice of an ILS approach if available and of a "VFR" approach if not; a "REVIEW" softkey, an ACTIVATE softkey; V RF (the bug corresponding to this airspeed is displayed on the speed tape when approach is activated and range to destination is less than 30 NM); and on the flashing ACTIVATE key causes all cyan values to be displayed in green, displays the speed bugs on speed scale of the ADI, activates the color logic for acceleration, allow TOGA mode, displays N 1 reduced bug on N 1 scale if crew has 55 chosen a reduced power takeoff, and sets the AWO (all weather operations) symbology of HUD 32. DH & MDA window. If the publication of the selected approach includes values for decision height (DH), they are automatically filled, unless they have already been filled by the crew. They can be erased so as to inhibit corresponding alarms. DH is related to a precision approach and MDA is related to a non-precision approach. Nevertheless, the pilot can always set a value of MDA, even for a precision approach. If the DH (MDA) is filled in this window, the corresponding readout will be displayed in both the ADI and the HUD as soon as the radar altirneter indicates below 2500 ft. The DH (tv1DA) A "SID" (standard instrument departure) label on the flight plan page (FIG. 21) allows the pilot to choose the departure procedure. If departure airport has more than 4 60 SIDs, a "MORE" label lets the pilot choose four more SIDs until all have been displayed. The choice of SID can be performed before or after inserting the take off parameters. This departure will be included in the flight plan path, and will configure the radio-navigation sensors in the HSI. The pilot can activate the selected SID with the ACTIVATE key 65 annunciation shall be displayed in both the ADI and the HUD as soon as the radar altimeter indicates below the value entered by the pilot. in the SID window. A REVIEW key, which appears as soon 6,112,141 37 Landing performance part 604 of the page includes fields for the following parameters: length of runway in meters or feet, displayed automati- cally once QFU is selected; runway slope given in percentage, displayed automati- cally once QFU is selected; runway elevation, automatically displayed once QFU is selected; QNH; wind direction and velocity; temperature on ground; landing weight; engine status for landing; flaps position ( 40 or 20°, 40 being the default value); air brakes position (retracted or half-extended, retracted is the default value); anti-ice status (default value is off); LFL factor; and ACTIVATE label. 38 (LFL>LENGTH) AND (LFL/LFL factor> soft-key, which will cause the runway and approach to be activated. A deactivation of the approach procedure will be auto- matically performed when one of the following events occurs: a destination change if the approach procedure had been prepared though the ARRIVAL page 600, weight on wheels, approach reconfiguration, and manual tuning of If a runway and a non-precision approach are selected, and if the ACTIVATE soft-key is selected, the APP soft-key of the AP controller becomes selectable. The name of the activated approach is displayed within the LNAV soft-key 531. Activation of an ILS approach causes the multi functional displays (MFD) 18, 20 to display the LOC (localizer) axis as a white dotted line that starts at the runway threshold and is 10 miles long, using the scale of the currently displayed chart. The localizer line is displayed below the line repre- senting the flight plan, if it exists. With the ILS approach activated, the MFD's 16, 18 also show the approach glide slope, known from the aeronautical information database, in the vertical profile depicted as a white doffed line that reaches the runway threshold and is 10 miles long. In case perfonnance of the aircraft is insufficient to perform the specified landing, a red boxed flashing message is displayed above ACTIVATE label, indicating "ILLEGAL LANDING" if: 50 VOR frequencies on both MFCU 26, 28. When the approach procedure is deactivated, the approach mode on AP controller 23, 24 is also deactivated and no longer selectable. The approach symbology will be erased, and the "APP" key of AP controller 23, 24 will be 55 colored cyan. If the pilot tunes MFCU 26, 28 to a VOR frequency when an ILS approach is selected, the approach symbology or the corresponding PFD 16, 22 will be erased. The course displayed within the "CRS" readout of the corresponding 60 MFCU 26, 28 will also be erased, but the approach proce- dure will not be deactivated. If the pilot tunes both MFCU's 26, 28 to a VOR frequency, the approach procedure that had been prepared through the arrival page will be deactivated. The approach 65 mode will be erased on both PFD 16, 22 and the "APP" soft key of the AP controller 23, 24 will become unselectable and colored cyan. 6,112,141 39 If pilot tunes one MFCU 26, 28 to another ILS frequency, the approach procedure that had been prepared through the arrival page will not be deactivated nor disengaged (if it was selected) and will remain selectable (if it was not selected). The ILS symbology remains available on both PFD 16, 22 but each one will refer to the ILS frequency tuned on the respective MFCU 26, 28. In addition, on the PFD 16, 22 corresponding to the side where the new ILS frequency was tuned, preselected course and information displayed right of the HSI will flash slowly, so as to indicate the discrepancy. 10 Despite the discrepancies, the autopilot and flight director will continue to hold the ILS approach that was foreseen by the approach procedure prepared in the arrival page, which is still active. If the pilot tunes both MFCU 26, 28 to another ILS 15 frequency, the approach procedure that had been prepared from the arrival page will not be deactivated but the approach mode will no longer be selectable. The ILS sym- bology will remain available on both PFD 16, 22, but each one will refer to the respectively tuned ILS frequency. In 20 addition, the preselected course and information situated to the right of the HSI of both PFD will slowly flash so as to indicate the discrepancy of frequencies tuning. 40 the point selected; and flight plan modification keys on the left of the sub-menu. This window can be erased either by clicking on another symbol or by clicking on a blank area of the screen. In the latter case, the cursor automatically returns to the designated point. There are three categories of symbols: those that belong to the flight plan, those that do not belong to the flight plan, and aircraft symbols. In the vertical profile (e.g., 546, FIG. 15), the pilot can only modify altitude and slope constraints on a waypoint. When a waypoint is highlighted by operation of the cursor and selection button 48 and a vertical parameter is inserted into the window, the vertical parameter is stored, along with portions of the aeronautical information database memory as a part of the flight plan. In addition, a vertical profile is immediately displayed, if not already displayed, to provide a graphical indication of the vertical flight path of the flight plan. Correspondingly, movement of the cursor to a way- point in a displayed vertical profile and subsequent operation of the selection button and keyboard is operative to modified stored vertical parameters of the flight plan. In the horizontal situation, for all categories of symbols except aircraft and ain,vays, the pilot can select the follovving functions appearing as choices in a window displayed in MFD 18,20 below the selected symbol: DIRECT TO LNAV, DIRECT TO LNAV/VNAV, VIA TO, DELETE, HOLD, CONSTRAINTS, EXIT XXX, CLICK OUTSIDE. Interactive Charts If the pilot wants to prepare an approach through MFCU 26, 28, he will have to de-activate the approach prepared in 25 arrival page 600 to be prompted for an MFCU-prepared approach. If the pilot wants to return to the approach prepared in the arrival page 600, he must tune both MFCU 26, 28 to the planned frequency to make the approach mode selectable. While in flight, the crew can modify one or more of the input data to update wind conditions or to display conse- quences of a cruise Mach number change or level change. As soon the "COMPUT" label is clicked, the system recom- putes the unchanged initial parameters (BOW, PAX, cargo), 35 the new parameters (average wind and/or speed and/or cruise altitude), the present fuel on board obtained from the detotalizer, and the remaining path to destination point. As noted above, clicking on a waypoint displayed on a 30 chart results in a small window display for the waypoint. The options selectable from this window are as follows: The crew can directly display the results of the modifi- cations and, if so desired, may activate the flight plan with 40 these new parameters. Note that the ACTIVATE label becomes selectable again as soon as one of the active flight plan's parameters is modified. These modifications, if not activated, are lost as soon as the pilot exits FLIGHT PLAN page 552. The pilot can return to the active flight plan by 45 exiting FLIGHT PLAN page 552 and recalling it using two double clicks on "MENU" key, one to erase the page and the other one to re-display it. Parameters of any active flight plan are displayed green. If the flight plan has not been activated, the parameters are displayed magenta to make 50 clear that the flight plan shown is not activated. The pilot can operate the flight plan functions graphically on the MFD display 18, 20 using track-ball 44, 46 and "ACTION" push-button 48, applied to the manual flight plan page, FIG. 22. Using these devices, the pilot can consult 55 all symbols currently displayed on the screen to get infor- mation about them, modify the flight plan and the constraints for vertical navigation, create holding patterns, and can display and tune radio or radio-navigation frequencies. The pilot simply makes the cursor capture the symbol or perti- 60 nent point of the image, and pushes on "ACTION" push button 48. This displays a window including available information and possible choices. This window may include the narne of syrnbol (at the top of the window); a sub-rnenu indicating the symbol's options (WPT, HOLD/NAVAID, 65 RWY, coordinates) just below the name; corresponding information, parameters to be filled, and soft keys specific to DIR TO LNAV This is the classical "direct to" function of previously existing FMS systems. It operates only in the horizontal plane. Nevertheless, if the waypoint has no altitude constraint, a default value equal to ASEL (altitude selected) will be taken into account. Computer 63 thus displays graphical indications on the MFD of geographic locations of waypoints and the current geographic position of the aircraft with respect to the waypoints. Computer 63 responds to operation of trackball 44 and selection button 48 to highlight a waypoint and to implement a "direct go-to" operation by providing a graphical indication of the aircraft trajectory required to proceed direct to the selected waypoint. Moreover, computer 63 responds to selection of a "direct go-to" operation by retrieving terrain data from the geo- graphic database and displaying the vertical terrain profile between the current aircraft position and the selected way- point (FIG. 15). Moreover, a displayed vertical profile will also include a graphical indication of the vertical path of the stored flight plan between the current aircraft location and the selected waypoint, superimposed over the terrain profile. If the designated point belongs to a flight plan, after passing this point the system will resume navigation on the rest of the flight plan. The skipped part of the flight plan is drawn with discontinuous lines. If the designated point does not belong to a flight plan, even if it exists in the database, the system will not resume navigation according to the rest of the flight plan. If the pilot performs a "DIR TO LNAV" while no flight plan exists, a new flight plan is created. The new flight plan goes from the aircraft position when selecting the relevant waypoint, to the waypoint selected. By providing the Direct To function in this graphical manner, the pilot has greatly increased situational aware- ness. The pilot sees the current location of the aircraft on a map and sees the relative location of the waypoint to which 6,112,141 41 the pilot is directing the aircraft. The waypoint is not merely a three-letter abstraction, but a specific geographic location whose relationship to the current aircraft position can be readily seen. The pilot therefore has increased relational information, reducing the probability of an unintended unsafe command to the autopilot. DIR TO LNAV/VNAV 42 value is direct), right or left turn (default value is right), and required altitude for the pattern. For the FMS computer 63 to take this holding pattern into account in navigation, the pilot has to activate it with ACTIVATE key displayed at the bottom of the sub-menu. To exit the holding pattern, the pilot has to perform a "DIR TO" on the following waypoint, or click the "ABORT" key in the sub-menu. The "Hold" function can also be performed on the present position, to do so the pilot has to click on the This function performs a "direct to" in both the vertical and horizontal planes. The designated point must have an altitude constraint. If not, the pilot has to provide it, or the system will take into account a default value equal to current ASEL value. A read-out with cursor on it will be displayed to prompt altitude entry. In addition, a special label will provide the capability to use ASEL as the altitude constraint. If the required action is not performed, a special message "MODIFICATION NOT TERMINATED" will be dis- played. When the pilot performs a "DIR TO LNAV/VNAV", both the LNAV and VNAV become selectable if not already selected, and remain in the same status (selected or not selected) if that status was already selected. 10 aircraft symbol with the modification key. The holding pattern is shown in true scale on the hori- zontal situation display. In contrast, holding patterns on paper Jeppesen charts are always displayed in a conven- tional size which does not reflect the real scale. 15 CONSTRAINTS This function operates on a waypoint and allows the pilot to insert constraints for a waypoint belonging to a flight plan (active or being built). Entry of data onto appropriately labeled lines in a displayed CONSTRAINTS window using VIA TO This function allows building a flight plan graphically, waypoint after waypoint, or to n1odify the current flight plan. If the first point on which this function is performed is a flight plan point not yet reached, the preceding part of the flight plan is kept. If not, this point will become a "TO" waypoint as soon as the modification is activated. After this, the pilot must designate all the waypoints that he wants to fly 20 the keyboard causes the newly entered data to be stored in memory in association with data corresponding to the way- point in the aeronautical information database to store modified altitude and/or speed/time parameters of the flight plan in memory. The CONSTRAINTS window displays a 25 sub-menu including: ALT + constraint: Altitude on this point and on the following leg until new constraint to, click on the modification key, and click on "VIA TO". At each step, created legs are displayed in discontinuous magenta lines. An ACTIVATE key allows termination of the input procedure. This will activate the new flight plan which 30 SLOPE + constraint: Slope to rejoin the point at the required altitude (default value is +/-3°) is displayed with continuous lines, whereas the previous flight plan is displayed with discontinuous lines. If any point belonging to the flight plan is designated (except the first 35 designated point), the rest of flight plan is kept. If an interruption occurs in the modification process, without any activation, a MODIFICATION NOT TERMINATED mes- sage will be displayed. When the pilot performs a "VIA TO", the system supplies a vertical profile based on the altitude of 40 the last waypoint of "VIA TO" if an altitude constraint exists. Otherwise the system will set this altitude constraint at the current value of ASEL. When the pilot performs a "VIA TO", both the LNAV and VNAV becomes selectable if not already so, and remain in the same status (selected or 45 not selected) if they were selectable. DELETE SPEED + constraint: DTK + constraint: SXTK + constraint: FLYOVER Speed from this point up to the following one Desired track to rejoin the point Offset from this point and up to the following one Fly over constraint point (Y/N) "SXTK" line is immediately displayed if aircraft symbol is clicked, to allow immediate activation of an offset. The pilot can thus modify altitude and speed/time param- eters of the flight plan. EXIT XXX This function permits the pilot to exit a flight plan following a preset course from a waypoint. Air traffic controllers often ask aircraft to leave or terminate a flight plan by following an accurate course from a waypoint. The crew can perform this instruction by waiting to pass over this waypoint and then using the basic mode of AP (TRK) after having pre-displayed the required course. Alternatively, this This function allows deletion of one point from the active flight plan or from the flight plan being built. It is available only in these conditions. The system automatically links navigation between the prior and subsequent points. The skipped part of the flight plan remains displayed with discontinuous lines if this plan was active, but if it was being built the skipped part is erased. When pilot deletes a waypoint on which he was currently performing a "DIR TO (LNAV OR LNAV/VNAV)" the autopilot reverts to basic mode if it was coupled. If it was not coupled, lateral and vertical navigation guidance are lost. In both cases, LNAV and VNAV become unselectable. 50 instruction can also be carried out by selecting EXIT XXX. HOLD This function sets a holding pattern on the designated point if the point belongs to an active flight plan. Clicking The pilot enters a value for the course XXX, and the skipped part of flight plan is shown with discontinuous lines on the display. A discontinuous cyan line is displayed on the horizontal situation display, starting from the chosen 55 waypoint, and continuing on the chosen course. It is possible to return to the initial flight plan at any moment, by clearing the XXX value. Click Outside Every Point If the designated point does not belong to a database, it 60 will be given a default name (PWPTl for the first one) which can be modified by the crew. "DIR TO LNAV" and "VIA TO" options will be displayed simultaneously. on the "HOLD" option displays a sub-menu that allows to define the features of the holding pattern. These features are the inbound course (default value is arrival track on 65 waypoint), the leg time (default value is 1 NM), the type of entry procedures (direct, parallel, or "tear-drop," the default SHOW The pilot rnay want to perforrn a "DIR TO" or "VIA TO" for a point which is not currently displayed on the screen. This often happens when ATC issues a "direct to XXX" instruction. The pilot has to find or display this point very 6,112,141 43 fast, and can use the "SHOW" key of the keyboard by clicking on this key (displays a scratch-pad on MFD), then typing the name of WPT or its coordinates, followed by the "ENTER" key of the keyboard. Computer 63 determines a map scale that will permit simultaneous display of the waypoint and the current aircraft position and by displaying a geographic map display containing the specified waypoint, the current aircraft position, and an identification of the scale of the displayed map. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various 10 modifications and variations can be made in the disclosed process and product without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration 44 generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by the cursor control device; and responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to store portions of the aeronautical information database corresponding to the highlighted navigation aid indi- cators in the memory; whereby sequential operation of the cursor control device and selection device is operative to store a horizontal and vertical flight plan and speed/time parameters in the memory. of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims. 6. An aircraft flight management system as recited in claim 5, comprising; 15 an input device for receiving pilot-entered vertical param- What is claimed is: 1. An aircraft display and control system, comprising: a plurality of fiat-panel color display devices disposed on an aircraft flight deck control panel and comprising a con1111011 work area; at least two cursor control devices for receiving pilot- entered cursor movement commands; 20 25 a display computer coupled to the display devices and the cursor control devices for generating a plurality of movable cursors upon the display devices, each cursor being controlled by one of the cursor control devices to move independent of all other cursors across all display 30 devices of the entire work area; and a flight computer for executing control operations in response to movement of the cursors. 2. An aircraft display and control system as recited in claim 1, wherein each cursor has a distinctive shape different 35 from the shape of all other cursors. 3. An aircraft display and control system as recited in claim 1, wherein: the cursor control devices are operative between first and second control modes; 40 the display computer is responsive to operation of a cursor control device in the first mode to limit movement of the respective cursor to a single display device and is responsive to operation of a cursor control device in the 45 second mode to permit movement of the respective cursor from one to another of the display devices. 4. An aircraft display and control system as recited in claim 3 wherein the first control mode comprises movement of the cursor at a velocity below a threshold value and the 50 second control mode comprises movement of the cursor at a velocity above the threshold value. 5. An aircraft flight management system, comprising: a memory for storing a geographical map database, an aeronautical information database, and a flight plan; a fiat-panel color display device; a cursor control device; a selection device; and a flight computer for: 55 simultaneously displaying on the display device 60 selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical infor- mation database as aeronautical information indica- tors such that the geographic locations of aeronau- tical information indicators are correlated on the 65 display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display; eters; and wherein the flight computer responds to a highlighted navigation aid indicator and entry of a vertical param- eter to store the entered vertical parameter in associa- tion with the portions of the aeronautical information database corresponding to the highlighted navigation aid indicator to store vertical parameters of the flight plan in the memory and display a graphical indication of a vertical flight path of the flight plan. 7. An aircraft flight management system as recited in claim 6, wherein: the flight computer responds to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight por- tions of the vertical flight path indication and respond to operation of the selection device to modify vertical parameters of the stored flight plan. 8. An aircraft flight management system as recited in claim 5, comprising; an input device for receiving pilot-entered speed/time parameters; and wherein the flight computer responds to a highlighted navigation aid indicator and entry of a speed/time parameter to store the entered speed/time parameter in association with the portions of the aeronautical infor- mation database corresponding to the highlighted navi- gation aid indicator to store speed/time parameters of the flight plan in the memory and display a graphical indication of a flight path of the flight plan. 9. An aircraft flight management system as recited in claim 8, wherein: the flight computer responds to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight por- tions of the flight path indication and respond to operation of the selection device to modify speed/time parameters of the stored flight plan. 10. A method for aircraft information display and control, comprising the steps of: storing in a memory a geographical map database and an aeronautical information database; simultaneously displaying on a fiat-panel display device selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical information database as aeronautical information indicators such that the geographic locations of aero- nautical information indicators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display; generating a rnovable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by a cursor control device and the engagement of the cursor control device controlled by a selection device; and 6,112,141 45 responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to store portions of the aeronautical information database corresponding to the highlighted navigation aid indi- cators in the memory; whereby sequential operation of the cursor control device and selection device is operative to store a horizontal and vertical flight plan and speed/time parameters in the memory. 10 11. A display and control system for an aircraft including a plurality of navigation and communication devices, com- prising: a memory for storing a geographic map database and an aeronautical information database, including geo- 15 graphic location and frequency parameters of naviga- tion aids; a fiat-panel color display device; a cursor control device; a selection device; and a flight computer for: 20 simultaneously displaying on the display device selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical infor- 25 mation database as navigation aid indicators such that the geographic locations of navigation aid indi- cators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display, and for designating portions of the display 30 device as a control active region; generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by the cursor control device; and responding to operation of the cursor control device 35 and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current curser location and to retrieve and display database parameters of the high- lighted navigation aid indicators from the aeronau- tical information database, 40 wherein the flight computer is responsive to further opera- tion of the cursor control device and selection device to transfer frequency parameters of the highlighted navi- gation aid to associated navigation or communication devices. 45 12. A display and control system as recited in claim 11, wherein: the memory stores a plurality of portions of the aeronau- tical information and map databases each correspond- 50 ing to a flight phase of the aircraft; the flight computer receives inputs from navigation devices to establish current position of the aircraft in relation to flight phases of a stored flight plan, and responds to transition of the aircraft from a position 55 corresponding to one flight phase to a position corre- sponding to another flight phase by automatically dis- playing map and aeronautical information database information corresponding to the new flight phase. 13. A display and control system for an aircraft including 60 a plurality of navigation and communication devices, com- prising: a memory for storing a geographic map database and an aeronautical information database, including geo- graphic location and frequency parameters of naviga- 65 tion aids; a fiat-panel color display device; a cursor control device; a selection device; and a flight computer for: 46 simultaneously displaying on the display device selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical infor- mation database as navigation aid indicators such that the geographic locations of navigation aid indi- cators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display, and for designating portions of the display device as a control active region; generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by the cursor control device; and responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to retrieve and display database parameters of the high- lighted navigation aid indicators from the aeronau- tical information database; wherein: the system comprises a scale control device for specifying a desired discrete map scale for display on the display device; the data items of the map and aeronautical information databases are each classified as one of a plurality of priority levels each corresponding to a different map scale; and the flight computer responds to operation of the scale control device to display the map and aeronautical information databases at the desired scale and performs a de-clutter function to display only those data items corresponding to the desired scale. 14. A display and control system as recited in claim 13, wherein: the system comprises a zoom control device for specify- ing a continuously variable desired display scale; and the flight computer responds to operation of the zoom control device to display the map and aeronautical information databases at the desired scale and avoid the de-clutter function by continuing to display all data items that were displayed prior to operation of the zoom control. 15. A navigation and control system for an aircraft having apparatus for determining current aircraft geographic position, comprising: a first memory for storing a plurality of navigation way- points; a second memory for storing a geographic database including terrain altitude information; a color fiat panel display device having a movable cursor; a cursor control device; a selection device; and a flight computer for displaying graphical indications on the display device of geographic locations ofwaypoints and the current geographic position of the aircraft with respect to the waypoints, the flight computer respond- ing to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight a waypoint and to imple- ment a "direct go-to" operation by providing a graphi- cal indication of the aircraft trajectory required to proceed direct to the selected waypoint; wherein the flight cornputer responds to selection of a "direct go-to" operation by displaying the terrain pro- file between the current aircraft position and the selected waypoint. 6,112,141 47 16. A system as recited in claim 15, comprising a third memory for storing a flight plan including vertical naviga- tion information and wherein the flight computer responds to selection of a "direct go-to" operation by graphically dis- playing the vertical path of the stored flight plan between the current aircraft position and the selected waypoint and simultaneously displaying the terrain profile between the current aircraft position and the selected waypoint. 48 operation of the selection device by displaying a poten- tial aircraft position, and entry of information identifying a waypoint stored in the memory by determining a map scale that will permit simultaneous display of the identified poten- tial position and the current aircraft position and by displaying a geographic map display containing: the identified potential position, the current aircraft position, and 17. A system for modifying a flight plan which includes horizontal position data, vertical position data, and time 10 data, comprising: an identification of the scale of the displayed map. 19. A flight management system for an aircraft having an autopilot for receiving a selected altitude and desired slope, and apparatus for determining current location and flight 15 path, the system comprising: a memory for storing data representing a plurality of legs of a flight plan, each leg including a plurality of navigation and aircraft performance parameters; a color fiat panel display device; a cursor control device; a selection device; a keyboard; a flight computer coupled to the memory and display 20 device, the flight computer responding to: a first operation of the cursor control and selection devices to display in a first type style on the display device a navigation log containing a plurality of entries each corresponding to one leg of the stored 25 flight plan and including computed parameters for each leg, a second operation of the cursor control and selection devices to highlight a selected entry, operation of the keyboard to modify the selected entry, 30 recompute the computed parameters of the entry, and display the modified and recomputed entry in a second type style, and any one of a third operation of the cursor control and selection devices to change the modified portion of the navi- 35 gation log to the first type style and to store in the memory modified parameters corresponding to the modified navigation log, and a fourth operation of the cursor control and selection devices to restore the modified navigation log to the 40 original configuration and maintain the stored flight plan in the original condition. a memory for storing a geographic map database includ- ing terrain elevation information, an aeronautical infor- mation database, and a flight plan; a fiat-panel color display device; and a flight computer for: displaying on the display device: a vertical profile of the stored flight plan, the vertical profile display having vertical and horizontal scales, an indicator representing the current aircraft position, altitude, and predicted trajectory using the stored flight plan and status of the autopilot, selected portions of the map database to provide an indication of altitude of obstacles along the pre- dicted flight trajectory, portions of the flight plan data from the memory to indicate waypoints of the flight plan and desired aircraft altitude at the flight plan waypoints, and an indication of autopilot selected altitude and desired slope; and selecting the vertical scale so as to accommodate the highest altitude of a displayed item. 20. A system as recited in claim 19, comprising a cursor control device and wherein the computer generates a hori- zontal situation display on the display device and a movable cursor, the computer responding to operation of the cursor control device to highlight a waypoint indication when the cursor coincides with the waypoint indication on the vertical 18. A navigation system for an aircraft having apparatus for displaying potential and current aircraft geographic position, comprising: a memory for storing a geographic map database contain- ing geographic map information at a plurality of scales, and a waypoint database; 45 profile and simultaneously highlighting the corresponding indication of the waypoint on the horizontal situation dis- play. a color fiat panel display device; a dedicated selection device; a flight computer for displaying graphical indications on the display device of geographic locations ofwaypoints and the current geographic position of the aircraft with respect to the waypoints, the flight computer respond- ing to: 21. A system as recited in claim 20, comprising a keyboard, wherein the computer responds to keyboard data 50 entry when a waypoint is highlighted by receiving modified altitude information for the highlighted waypoint and storing the modified altitude information in the flight plan as a modified flight plan. * * * * * UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. DATED INVENTOR(S) : 6,112,141 August 29, 2000 Michel BRIFFE et al. It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below: Claim 4, col. 43, line 48, after "claim 3" insert --,--. Claim 11, col. 45, line 37, change "curser" to --cursor--. Attest: Attesting Officer Signed and Sealed this Fifteenth Day of May, 2001 NICHOLAS P. GODICI Actin.~ Director c~f the United Stares Patenr and Trademark Offfce