Patent ID: 6522867
Filing Date: 2003-02-18
Classification: G05D,G08G

Abstract:
A system for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising:a ground data link unit contained within an aircraft for obtaining flight performance data representative of aircraft flight performance during flight of the aircraft, said ground data link unit comprising: a) an archival data store operative to accumulate and store flight performance data during flight of the aircraft, and b) a spread spectrum transceiver coupled to said data store and operative to download to a ground based spread spectrum transceiver flight performance data that has been accumulated and stored by said data store during flight over a spread spectrum communication signal and upload data from said ground based spread spectrum transceiver; and a hand-held unit operable in the aircraft and comprising an integrated wireless radio for wirelessly communicating data with said ground data link unit, and a data entry and retrieval circuit for entering or retrieving data related to at least one of aircraft contents, passenger data, aircraft departure and arrival, or passenger transactions.