Patent ID: 8463538

Claim:
An assistance process for managing on a refueling aircraft an air meeting phase with a receiving aircraft, for an in-flight refueling of said receiving aircraft by said refueling aircraft, said refueling and receiving aircrafts flying one towards the other, comprising, on said refuelling aircraft: a) generating, by a processor, a plurality of parameters comprising at least: a current velocity of the refueling aircraft; a current altitude of the refueling aircraft; a current velocity of the receiving aircraft; a current altitude of the receiving aircraft; a turn characteristic of the refueling aircraft; a turning time taking into account the performance of the refueling aircraft; and a separation distance of the two aircrafts at the end of the meeting phase; b) using said parameters to automatically calculate, by a processor, at least one engagement distance corresponding to the distance between the two aircrafts at which the meeting phase should be initiated, wherein for a B type procedure, the engagement distance is calculated using the equation: D ⁢ ⁢ 1 = TAS ⁢ ⁢ 1 2 g ⁢ ⁢ tan ⁢ ⁢ φ ⁢ ⁢ 1 ⁢ ( TAS ⁢ ⁢ 2 TAS ⁢ ⁢ 1 ⁢ 3 ⁢ π + 4 2 - 2 ⁢ 2 ) + T ⁡ ( TAS ⁢ ⁢ 2 + TAS ⁢ ⁢ 1 ) + R , wherein for a C type procedure, the engagement distance is calculated using the equation: D ⁢ ⁢ 2 = TAS ⁢ ⁢ 2 2 g ⁢ ⁢ tan ⁢ ⁢ φ ⁢ ⁢ 2 ⁢ 2 ⁢ ( 1 - π 4 ) + TAS ⁢ ⁢ 1 · TAS ⁢ ⁢ 2 g ⁢ ⁢ tan ⁢ ⁢ φ ⁢ ⁢ 1 ⁢ π ⁢ 2 2 + T ⁡ ( 2 2 ⁢ TAS ⁢ ⁢ 2 + TAS ⁢ ⁢ 1 ) + R wherein for a D type procedure, the engagement distance is calculated using the equation: D ⁢ ⁢ 3 = D ⁢ ⁢ 4 2 + ( TAS ⁢ ⁢ 2 · TAS ⁢ ⁢ 1 g ⁢ ⁢ tan ⁢ ⁢ φ ⁢ ⁢ 1 ⁢ ( 2 ⁢ De + π ) ⁢ cos ⁢ ⁢ De + R + T · TAS ⁢ ⁢ 1 ) 2 where TAS 1 is a true air velocity of the refuelling aircraft, TAS 2 is a true air velocity of the receiving aircraft, T is a time needed for the refuelling aircraft to reach any requested turn angle, R is a separation distance between the refuelling aircraft and the receiving aircraft, g represents the acceleration of gravity, and De represents drift generated by wind; c) determining, by a processor, the current positions of said refueling and receiving aircrafts; and d) automatically showing on at least one viewing screen of the refueling aircraft, at least: one indicator showing said at least one engagement distance being defined with respect to the current position of the refueling aircraft, at least at the front of the latter; and one symbol indicating the current position of the receiving aircraft.