Patent ID: 8155820

Claim:
A method of avoiding a fault during aircraft operation, the method comprising: providing data representative of a plurality of features to at least one model, wherein the plurality of features are representative of an upcoming operational sequence, and wherein the at least one model has been trained with data that is representative of a prior operational sequence in which a fault occurred and data that is representative of a prior operational sequence in which a fault did not occur; processing, with a computer, the data representative of the plurality of features with the at least one model to determine a likelihood of a fault during the upcoming operational sequence; providing a recommendation of one or more steps to be taken to reduce a likelihood of the fault during the upcoming operational sequence; and altering characteristics of the upcoming operational sequence in accordance with the recommendation without requiring maintenance of the aircraft to thereby permit the upcoming operational sequence to be conducted with the reduced likelihood of the fault, wherein altering the characteristics of the upcoming operational sequence comprises reducing the weight to permit flight of the aircraft with a reduced likelihood of the fault and without requiring maintenance of the aircraft.