Patent ID: 11897596
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 14:
15. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method of automatically extending aircraft wing flaps, the method comprising:
determining whether an aircraft is experiencing an excess energy steep descent (EESD) condition, the EESD condition corresponding to a flight path angle that meets or exceeds an angular threshold when engines of the aircraft are operating at idle thrust, wherein the angular threshold varies based on a speed of the aircraft; and
in response to determining that the aircraft is experiencing the EESD condition, commanding an actuator of the aircraft coupled to a flap of the aircraft to extend the flap from a current flap position to a subsequent flap position defined by a flap extension sequence.