Patent ID: 7580776

Claim:
A method of assuring separation between an aircraft and potential flight hazards, comprising: predicting an intended path of the aircraft; accessing information relative to terrain proximal the aircraft; receiving inputs representative of weather events proximal the aircraft; receiving inputs representative of locations of nearby aircraft; accessing separation information that provides a distance by which the aircraft must be separated from any of the terrain, weather events, and nearby aircraft; determining a possibility that the aircraft, traveling along the intended path, will be less than the distance from any of the terrain, weather events, and nearby aircraft; and advising a pilot of the aircraft if the possibility is above a predetermined threshold accessing information relative to areas of restricted airspace proximal the aircraft; accessing separation information that provides a distance by which the aircraft must be separated from the restricted airspace; determining a possibility that the aircraft, traveling along the intended path, will be less than the distance from the restricted airspace; and advising a pilot of the aircraft if the possibility is above a predetermined threshold.