Patent ID: 8033506

Claim:
A system for regulating a throttle of a secondary aircraft, comprising: an auto-throttle system (ATS) comprising an auto-throttle computer disposed in a primary aircraft, the ATS being configured to generate at least one anticipatory signal, the at least one anticipatory signal being predictive of at least one future flight characteristic of the primary aircraft based at least in part on a current rate of change value of at least one flight characteristic of the primary aircraft, the flight characteristic being at least one of an airspeed, pitch and weight of the primary aircraft; and a data link communicating the anticipatory signal to an auto-throttle computer of the secondary aircraft, wherein the at least one anticipatory signal predictive of the at least one future flight characteristic of the primary aircraft is configured to modify the throttle of the secondary aircraft such that the secondary aircraft maintains an airspeed of the primary aircraft based upon the at least one anticipatory signal.