Patent ID: 7389163

Claim:
A flight control system for a personal air vehicle to be flown by a person at altitudes below general aviation traffic without the assistance of air traffic controllers, which comprises: an altitude sensor; a heading sensor; a processor coupled to said altitude sensor and said heading sensor, said processor being programmed with personal air vehicle flight control rules to fly said personal air vehicle at altitudes below general aviation traffic without the assistance of air traffic controllers, said flight control rules including a minimum forward flight altitude selected to substantially avoid ground objects and a maximum forward flight altitude selected to substantially be below general aviation traffic, said flight control rules further requiring, in order to avoid a collision with other personal air vehicles, a change in altitude of the personal vehicle if there is a heading change of the personal vehicle and a reduction in airspeed of the personal vehicle if a heading change of the personal vehicle is greater than a pre-determined heading change; and, a display coupled to said processor.