Patent ID: 8862287

Claim:
A system comprising: a computer; a first program code stored on the computer, the computer configured to: run the first program code to continually retrieve flight status information during a flight, such that flight status comprises an estimated time of arrival at each remaining waypoint in a flight plan for the flight, and generate four dimensional flight information, such that the four dimensional flight information comprises: a required time of arrival, the estimated time of arrival, and a comparison of the flight status information to the flight plan for the flight, such that the comparison of the flight status information comprises a numerical time difference between the estimated time of arrival at each remaining waypoint in the flight plan for the flight and the required time of arrival at each remaining waypoint in the flight plan for the flight, respectively; a second program code stored on the computer, such that the computer is configured to run the second program code to depict the four dimensional flight information in a textual format; and a third program code stored on the computer and configured, when a deviation of the estimated time of arrival at a particular point from the required time of arrival for the particular point becomes greater than a specified value, to generate a new four-dimensional flight plan and transmit an air traffic control clearance request, such that the new four-dimensional flight plan changes the deviation to the specified value or lower, wherein the flight status information includes at least one of aircraft position information, time, and weather information.